碳税政策的双重政策属性及其影响：以北欧国家为例

Dual Properties of Carbon Tax: Nordic Experience

碳税既是一种控制温室气体排放的政策,也是一种财税政策,其设计需同时满足国家财政和控制温室气体排放两方面的政策要求。因此在碳税政策设计过程中,需同时考虑并协调碳税政策对增加国家财政收入和控制温室气体排放的作用,具体的协调方式将对碳税政策的框架设计和政策效果产生显著影响。本文重点梳理了北欧各国碳税的演变历程,分析了北欧碳税政策的特点及其形成原因,并总结分析了在政策实践中碳税的不同表现形式。北欧国家的碳税政策是世界上最早的碳税实践,在其政策实践过程中表现出了相似的阶段性特征,各国碳税政策设计的主要目的均由早期的国家财政需要逐步转为控制温室气体排放以及与其它控制温室气体排放政策相衔接。而在每一个阶段中,受相似的政治需求影响,北欧各国的碳税政策设计均表现出一些明显的共性特点,形成了特定的表现形式。北欧国家碳税政策的演变说明,在碳税政策设计中往往难以充分兼顾财税目的和控制温室气体排放目的,从而更多地受到某一类需求的影响,并在不同政策目标驱动下表现出不同的特点。因此,在碳税政策设计时,应首先明确碳税政策所要解决的主要问题,并统一政府各部门对碳税作用的认识,以保证碳税政策可以更有针对性,避免其它政治需求对碳税解决主要矛盾的政策效果产生干扰。北欧国家碳税政策的演变对于我国以及考虑采用碳税政策控制温室气体排放的国家具有重要的启示意义。

Carbon tax is a policy instrument with dual purposes,i. e. GHG mitigation and fiscal revenue generation,therefore the demands from both sides shall be balanced in the design of carbon tax. When establishing carbon tax,the authorities should make appropriate coordination on the roles of carbon tax in both fiscal revenue generation and GHG mitigation. The approach of coordination has significant impacts on the framework of carbon tax and its effect. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolvement of carbon tax practice in Nordic countries,including the characteristics of carbon tax policies in these countries and the underlying reasons as well as different forms of carbon tax. Nordic countries are the pioneers of carbon tax practice and their carbon tax practice follow very similar phased processes,for example the main basis of policy design in all Nordic countries has changed from severing fiscal revenue purpose to reducing GHG emissions. At each stage,the design of carbon tax in Nordic countries showed very similar features as a result of similar political demands. The evolvement of Nordic carbon tax practice has illustrated that it is hard in reality to give full consideration of both purposes of carbon tax and therefore one purpose has to override the other. For the design of carbon tax,therefore,the first and foremost issue is to have a consensus among all relevant authorities on the main objective of this policy instrument,so as to make the design more pertinent and avoid unwanted impacts of other secondary policy goals. The carbon tax experience in Nordic countries could serve as a very useful reference for China and other countries which are considering carbon tax.