‘Those who pollute, will pay’ seems to be the message of the Dutch Government. From 2021 on, there will be a CO2 tax after all for the major polluters. On RTL Z, Peter Kavelaars, Professor of Fiscal Economics at Erasmus School of Economics, discusses together with Faiza Oulahsen (Greenpeace) some questions about the CO2 tax.
One of the questions revolved around how the new Dutch policy on CO2 taxes will interact with the European Emission system and EU-rules. Because the Dutch CO2 tax will, so to speak, be put on top of the EU-rules, according to Kavelaars this will mean in practice that in the first few years of the new Dutch policy only a few euros for every metric ton of CO2 need to be paid above the tax-free rate. ‘There will be some discussion. Rates can always be adjusted,’ says Kavelaars.
‘To be honest, I do not understand all the commotion,’ explains Kavelaars. ‘I do not think people really understand how the system works. In fact, with this tax, the Netherlands is laying a kind of minimum foundation below which the price should not come. Overall, one won’t pay much more in the near future.’
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Read the entire article on RTL Z.nl, 4 July 2019 (in Dutch).