Assessing the Barriers to Greener Fiscal Measures and Ecological Tax Reform in the Transport Sector

The objective of this chapter is to: (1) appraise the purpose of fiscal measures in the transport sector; (2) provide an overview of potential fiscal measures and their application; and (3) examine potential barriers to the introduction of more efficient pricing and ecological tax reform (ETR) in the transport sector. It is concluded that, although vehicle and fuel taxation measures vary between jurisdictions, ultimately policy-makers should consider calibrating vehicle and fuel taxation to ensure that externalities are internalised, costs are shifted from vehicle ownership to use and that marginal variable costs are transparent to the network user. However, it is possible that achieving ETR through full internalisation of external costs could be contentious due to political concerns over the potental impact on lower socio-economic groups and rural communities as well as commercial concerns over the competitiveness of the freight sector and macroeconomic impacts.