Fiscal Incentives for Good Environmental Management In Zimbabwe

Abstract

Tax incentives are rarely considered in discussions on environmental protection, yet well structured incentives can be of critical importance in contributing to good environmental management. For tax incentives to contribute maximally to sound environmental management, their various objectives, e.g., curing market failure, influencing economic behaviour and raising revenue for environmental protection must be well balanced. This balance becomes even more difficult to achieve when account is taken that the objectives must be pursued in the light of the general principles of taxation-equity, certainty, efficiency, etc. — and specific principles of environmental taxation, like the polluter pays principle. Inevitable inconsistencies are bound to occur, but the framework of objectives and principles allows for clearer thinking in the design and implementation of specific environmental tax incentives. In Zimbabwe, no general tax incentives for good environmental management are currently in place. However, by examining, in the light of the above scheme, those few environmental incentives that exist, this article seeks to open the vista for the systematic introduction of more incentives for environmental protection in Zimbabwe.