Creative Commons

Given the acceptance that taxation can serve different purposes other than clearly fiscal ones, the social function of taxes aiming at the rational use of energy sources shall be therefore analyzed. In particular, the potential of these taxes shall be assessed, namely of the excise duties on energy products to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, an assigned obligation and by the Kyoto Protocol validation. It has been supported that tax reforms, carried out in the past on excise taxation on energy products, have succeeded in reducing the emissions, but in all cases methodological difficulties have occurred during the evaluation of the taxation impact on the assessed reduction. The studies reaching the above-mentioned conclusion, are observed in a significant part of literature, to ignore the possibility of an emissions increase in countries where the related tax charges are not applied but also the possible reaction of the energy owners to the intended reduction of the products demand that can lead to a consumption increase and therefore to an emissions increase. Regarding the achievement of further benefits except the environmental impact and the emissions reduction, such as the reduction of the existed taxes and mostly the income taxes, this is an issue that cannot be generally approached and it depends on the tax planning and the parameters taken into consideration during its process. Lastly, it shall be examined a possible taxation impact on the competitiveness of a country's industries, in cases that other countries do not implement respective tax systems on the use of energy products as well as the possibility of putting a larger burden of the ones having lower incomes in comparison to those having higher incomes. However, before the presentation of the above-mentioned points on which focuses the international literature, at the present study a detailed presentation of the legal framework, in which tax authority can be applied aiming to the rational use of energy products, as set by the European Union Member States, by the international law regulations and international conventions, by rules of Community Law and by restrictions from national constitutional provisions, referring also to issues that concern the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) during the application of the rule of law.