Environmental Taxation and the Circular Economy: What Are the Prospects in the European Context?

Abstract The transition from a linear economy model to a circular economy system heralds great opportunities: on the one hand, because by smoothing out diseconomies and reducing waste, it can favour the ecological transition and steer production in the direction of sustainability and respect for the environment; on the other, because by offering economic operators the opportunity to become more competitive and to achieve considerable advantages, it can create jobs and facilitate integration and innovation at a social and an industrial level. To this end, a dimension of environmentally targeted taxation can only assume importance, characterized by the metamorphosis from a linear taxation system to a circular taxation paradigm: the former, dominated by the principle of fiscal neutrality, loses sight of non-tax purposes to attach importance only to those of revenue, too often ending up financing expenditure for expenditure and therefore even waste; the latter, through the taxation of waste and the use of tax eco-incentives, favours reuse and recycling, fully implementing the paradigm of the circular economy. In this perspective, through the preparation of a virtuous model and the elaboration of an agenda for future European growth centred on radical changes in production and consumption processes, the circular economy system can be fully implemented, promoting sustainable development and the efficient allocation of resources.