奥地利生态税制改革：——其他欧盟成员国的榜样?（中英文对照）
作者：Robin Damberger(奥地利财政部)
日期：2022年2月3日
翻译：思迈特财税国际税收服务团队
A new carbon pricing instrument
一种新的碳定价工具
In autumn 2021, the Austrian government presented its long announced eco-social tax reform as part of its climate strategy to minimize the Austrian green house gas emissions to net zeroby 2040. The Austrian Ecological Tax Reform Act contains a variety of climate and compensatory measures for citizens and companies. A central part of the tax reform is the implementation of a new explicit carbon pricing instrument, the national emission trading scheme (Nationales Emissionszertifikate handels gesetz– NEHG) applicable asof July 2022. The NEHG does not replace the existing energy taxes in Austriabut complements them. The following blog post describes the main elements of the NEHG in the context of the EU Fit for 55 Package. Moreover, the blog post analyses whether the Austrian ecological tax reform could serve as a blue print for other member states planning to implementa carbon pricing instrument.
2021年秋，奥地利政府提出了其长期以来宣布的生态社会税改革，作为其气候战略的一部分，以最大限度地减少奥地利温室气体排放到2040年的净零。奥地利生态税收改革法案包含了对公民和公司的各种气候和补偿措施。税收改革的一个核心部分是实施一种新的明确的碳定价工具，即2022年7月起适用的国家排放权交易机制（NEHG）。NEHG并没有取代奥地利现有的能源税，而是对其进行了补充。以下的博客文章描述了NEHG在欧盟“Fit for 55一揽子行动计划”（即减排55%）的背景下的主要元素。此外，文章分析了奥地利生态税改革是否可以作为其他成员国计划实施碳定价工具的蓝图。
The carbon pricing instrument aims to cover emissions outside the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). In the beginning, mainly CO2-emissions in the building and transport sectors will be covered by the NEHG. Looking at the allocation of CO2-emissions outside the EU-ETS this makes sense because the transport and building sectorsare responsible for approximately 40% (30% road sector10% buildings)of the total CO2-emissions in Austria. Particularly, the transport sector isresponsible for many emissions in Austria because of heavy traffic transitroutes in Tyrol.[1]
碳定价工具旨在涵盖欧盟碳排放权交易体系(EUETS)以外的排放。在开始阶段，建筑和运输行业的主要二氧化碳排放将被NEHG覆盖。通过观察EU ETS之外的二氧化碳排放分配情况，这是有道理的，因为运输和建筑行业约占奥地利二氧化碳总排放量的40%(道路行业占30%，建筑行业占10%)。特别是，运输行业要为奥地利的许多排放负责，因为在蒂罗尔的运输路线繁忙。
The NEHG is designed as an emission trading scheme and not as a carbon tax. However, during its initial phase, the NEHG will have a fixed price phase from July 2022 until 31 December 2025. The fixed prices will gradually increase from € 30 in 2022, to € 35 in 2023, € 45 in 2024 and € 55 in 2025 per tonne CO2.In addition to that, the maximum number of available allowances is not limitedin the initial phase. This will change with the market phase, at the beginning of 2026. Yet, the law contains no further provisions on the concrete design ofthe market phase. More details are expected to follow after the evaluation ofthe NEHG at the end of 2024. This evaluation is stipulated by Art. 19 of the NEHG. Part of the evaluation is the determination of the specific form of the market phase of the NEHG.
NEHG的设计是作为一种排放权交易机制，而不是碳税。然而，在初始阶段，NEHG将从2022年7月至2025年12月31日实行固定价格阶段。每吨二氧化碳的固定价格将从2022年的30美元逐渐提高到2023年的35美元、2024年的45美元、2025年的55美元。此外，在最初阶段可用配额的最大数量不受限制。这将随着2026年初的市场阶段而改变。但是，法律对市场阶段的具体设计没有进一步的规定。在2024年底对NEHG进行评估后，预计将公布更多细节。这项评估是NEHG第19条规定的。评估的一部分是确定NEHG市场阶段的具体形式。
Although the NEHG does not establish acarbon tax, the carbon pricing instrument follows in central parts the logic of existing energy taxes (fuel tax, coal tax, and natural gas tax)that are based on the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD). Thus, if acertain event is taxable under the existing energy taxes, an obligation to buy allowances arises under the NEHG. Taxable events under energy taxes are the production, importation, or release of energy products from a tax warehouse in Austria or the supply of coal and natural gas to consumers. In practice, only alimited number of energy distributors and oil companies are responsible for the payment of energy taxes, while the broad crowd of consumers is usually outside of their personal scope. Following the same logic as energy taxes, the distributors of energy products (upstream) are subject to the NEHG as intermediaries to the emitters, the number of participants to the NEHG thus being relatively low. The NEHG, therefore, differs from the EU ETS under which the emitters (operators ofinstallations) are subject to the instrument (downstream). Furthermore, only energy products listed in Annex 1 NEHG are subject to the NEHG. The list of covered energy products includes, among others, petrol, diesel, heating oil,coal, natural gas. The exhaustive list of covered products could be expanded with a regulation in the future. Electricity is not subject to the NEHG because power plants or other installations above 20 MW of thermal output are covered by the EU ETS.
尽管NEHG没有设立碳税，但碳定价工具的核心部分遵循了现有能源税(燃油税、煤炭税和天然气税)的逻辑，这些能源税是基于能源税收指令(ETD)。因此，如果某一特定事件按照现有的能源税征税，NEHG就有义务购买配额。能源税下的应税事件是指从奥地利税收仓库生产、进口或释放能源产品，或向消费者供应煤炭和天然气。在实践中，只有少数能源分销商和石油公司负责支付能源税，而广大消费者通常不在他们的个人范围内。按照与能源税相同的逻辑，能源产品的分销商(上游)作为排放者的中间人受NEHG的约束，因此NEHG参与者的数量相对较少。因此，NEHG不同于EU ETS，在该体系下，排放者(装置运营商)受仪器(下游)的约束。此外，只有附件1所列的能源产品受NEHG管辖。受保护的能源产品包括汽油、柴油、取暖油、煤、天然气等。涵盖产品的详尽清单在未来可能会随着一项规定而扩大。电力不受NEHG的约束，因为发电量超过20兆瓦的发电厂或其他设施都受EU ETS的保护。
The implementation of the NEHG is flanked by several measures to reduce unwanted effects of carbon pricing instruments. For example, the Austrian government implements a so-called “regional climate bonus”, a sort of regionalized climate dividend, which will be paid to allcitizens with a primary residence in Austria as a compensatory measure for the novel carbon price. The amount of the regional climate bonus depends on the place of residency of the recipient. Citizens living in the countryside receive a higher amount of the regional climate bonus (up to €200/year) than citizens living in urban areas (€100/year in Vienna). The basic idea is that citizens living in urban areas havebetter access to public transport than citizens living in the countryside. The regional climate bonus shall increase in case carbon prices rise in the future.The NEHG also contains compensatory measures for businesses. For example,agricultural and forestry undertakings will get a lump-sum reimbursement for additional costs induced by the NEHG based on the type of usage. Specific sectors of the economy which are particularly hit by the NEHG and exposed to risks of carbon leakage will be refunded partially for the additional burden resulting from the carbon price. This includes especially energy-intenseindustries who are, pursuant to Article 10 b of Directive 2003/87/EC,deemed to be at risk of carbon leakage. In addition to that, companies that are particularly affected by the NEHG (e.g. in the transport sector) can also applyfor partial refund of the carbon price to avoid hardship cases.
NEHG的实施伴随着几项措施，以减少碳定价工具的不良影响。例如，奥地利政府实施了所谓的区域气候红利，一种区域化的气候红利，将发放给所有在奥地利拥有主要住所的公民，作为新的碳价格的补偿措施。区域气候红利的数额取决于接受者的居住地。居住在农村的公民获得的区域气候红利(高达每年200英镑)高于居住在城市地区的公民(维也纳每年100英镑)。其基本理念是，生活在城市的公民比生活在农村的公民有更好的公共交通。如果未来碳价格上涨，区域气候红利将会增加。NEHG还包括对企业的补偿措施。例如，农林企业将根据使用类型获得一次性补偿，以补偿NEHG产生的额外费用。受 NEHG 影响特别大且面临碳泄漏风险的特定经济行业将因碳价造成的额外负担而部分退还。根据指令2003/87/EC第10b条，这特别包括能源密集型行业，这些行业被认为存在碳泄漏风险。此外，受新环境政策影响特别大的公司(如运输行业)也可以申请碳价的部分退款，以避免困难情况。
The ecological reform also includes accompanying measures in the income tax act, corporate income taxact, and electricity tax. For example, the Austrian government lowered incometax to reduce the taxation of labor substantially. Moreover, the government increased special tax incentives to compensate for the additional burden for families with children. In addition to that, the government lowered thecorporate income tax rate gradually from 25% to 23% in 2024. Starting from 2023 corporations can also deduct 5% (max 1mio €) of their investments in ecological measures from their profits as a special allowance in addition to a new investment tax credit of 10%. As a further measure, the thermal renovation of houses can be deducted partially from income tax. Furthermore, self-producedand self-consumed electricity from renewable sources (so far only for photovoltaic) will be exempt from the electricity tax without any quantitative limits. All those measures will contribute to reducing the tax ratio in Austria.
生态改革还包括所得税、企业所得税、电力税等配套措施。例如，奥地利政府降低了所得税，大幅降低了对劳动力的征税。此外，政府还增加了特别税收优惠，以补偿有子女家庭的额外负担。此外，政府在2024年将企业所得税税率从25%逐步下调至23%。从2023年开始，除了10%的新投资税收抵免外，企业还可以从利润中扣除5%(最高100万欧元)的生态措施投资作为特别津贴。作为进一步的措施，房屋热改造可以从所得税中部分扣除。此外，来自可再生能源的自产自用电力(目前仅适用于光伏)将不受数量限制地免征电业税。所有这些措施都将有助于降低奥地利的税率。
The new role of upstream emission trading schemes
上游排放权交易机制的新作用
Prior to the Austrian NEHG, the idea foran upstream emission trading scheme was already picked up by the German government in 2019. As part of the Climate Action Programme 2030, Germany introduced its Fuel Emission Trading Act (Brennstoffemissionshandelsgesetz – BEHG) which entered into force in 2021. The Fuel Emission Trading Act served as a model for the design of the NEHG, which hasstrong similarities to the novel carbon pricing instrument in Germany. Similar to the Austrian NEHG, the German Fuel Emission Trading Act is closely tied to the taxable events of the energy tax in Germany and the carbon price is fixed in the initial phase.
在奥地利NEHG之前，德国政府早在2019年就提出了上游排放权交易机制的想法。作为2030年气候行动计划的一部分，德国推出了《燃料排放交易法案》，该法案于2021年生效。《燃料排放交易法案》是NEHG设计的一个典范，NEHG与德国新型碳定价工具有很强的相似之处。与奥地利NEHG类似，德国《燃料排放交易法》与德国能源税的纳税事件密切相关，碳价格在初始阶段是固定的。
However, not only Austria was inspired by Germany. In July 2021 the European Commission presented its Fit for 55 package, which includes several legislative proposals in various are as to achieve the EU climate targets for 2030. One central piece of the package is the revision of the Emission Trading Directive. One of the key points of the reform is the Commission’s proposal to cover the road transport and buildings sectorsunder a separate emission trading scheme, which follows the logic of the German upstream approach.[2] According to the proposal, the expansion to buildings and road transport shall fully enter into force in 2026. The obligation to buy allowances arises at the moment when a taxable event under the energy taxes occurs. According to the proposal, the allowances will beauctioned. Therefore, there will be no fixed price phase at the beginning.However, there will be a market stability reserve to ensure stability in the price development of the allowances.
然而，不仅奥地利受到了德国的启发。2021年7月，欧盟委员会提出了“Fit for 55一揽子行动计划“，其中包括实现欧盟2030年气候目标的多个领域的立法提案。该一揽子计划的核心内容之一是修订《排放交易指令》。改革的重点之一是，欧盟委员会提出，按照德国上游方式的逻辑，将道路运输和建筑行业纳入单独的排放权交易机制，根据该提案，建筑和道路运输行业的扩展将于2026年全面生效。购买配额的义务在能源税项下的应税事件发生时产生。根据提案，这些配额将被拍卖。因此，在开始阶段不会有固定的价格。但是，将会有一个市场稳定储备，以确保配额价格发展的稳定。
The cap reduction factor from the proposed emission trading scheme will enter into effect in 2026.[3] The maximum amount of allowances for each Member State follows the effort-sharing regulation. The effort-sharing-regulation is a legally binding instrument that sets emission reduction targets for each Member State of the EU. This will ensure an emission reduction of 43% for both sectors[4] in 2030 compared to 2005.[5] Against this background, it is unclear which (practical)implications the implementation of a separate EU ETS will have on the obligations of the member states in the effort sharing regulation. The new,separate, EU ETS will be a harmonized instrument responsible for the emissions reduction in the road transport and building sectors. Member States failing to reach their national emissions reduction targets under the Effort-Sharing Regulation could thus blame this new EU ETS directive for their failure.However, the Commission did not address this issue in its proposal for the Fit for 55 package.
拟议的排放权交易机制的上限削减因子将于2026年生效。每个会员国的最高配额遵循《减排分担条例》。《减排分担条例》是一项具有法律约束力的文书，为欧盟各成员国设定减排目标。这将确保到2030年，两个行业的排放量比2005年减少43%。在这种背景下，尚不清楚单独的EU ETS的实施将对成员国在减排分担规则中的义务产生何种(实际的)影响。新的、独立的EU ETS将成为一个统一的工具，负责减少道路运输和建筑行业的排放。未能达到《减排分担条例》规定的国家减排目标的成员国，因此可以将其失败归咎于EU ETS的新指令。但是，委员会在其关于”Fit for 55一揽子行动计划“的建议中没有处理这个问题。
Effects of the new role of upstream emission trading schemes on Austria’s reform
上游排放权交易机制对奥地利改革的新作用
Those developments at the EU level were crucial for the implementation of the NEHG. The Austrian government had also considered the implementation of a carbon tax but it would have been impractical from an Austrian point of view to introduce a carbon tax, with the knowledge that the EU is planning the expansion of the EU ETS by 2026. Indeed,it would not have been efficient to introduce a carbon tax only for the period between 2022 and 2026. It would not make much sense to have two carbon pricing instruments that cover the sectors road transport and buildings at once as it would result in a double carbon pricing situation between the national carbontax and the EU ETS.
欧盟层面的这些发展对于 NEHG 的实施至关重要。奥地利政府也曾考虑过征收碳排放税，但从奥地利的角度来看，引入碳排放税是不切实际的，因为他们知道欧盟计划在2026年之前扩大EU ETS。事实上，如果只在2022年至2026年期间征收碳排放税，是不会有效果的。同时覆盖道路运输和建筑行业的两种碳定价工具没有多大意义，因为这将导致国家碳税和EU ETS之间的双重碳定价局面。
In short, Austria partly anticipates with the NEHG the above-mentioned EU upstream emission trading scheme for theroad transport and buildings sectors proposed by the Commission. Moreover,developments at the EU level will be taken into account in the mandatory evaluation of the NEHG by the end of 2024 (Art 19 of the NEHG). Therefore, the NEHG already contains a potential implementation mechanism for the proposedintroduction of a separate EU emission trading scheme for the sectors of roadtransport and buildings.
简而言之，奥地利在一定程度上与NEHG一起期待欧盟委员会为道路运输和建筑行业提出的上述欧盟上游排放权交易机制。此外，到2024年底，NEHG的强制性评估将考虑到欧盟层面的发展(NEHG第19条)。因此，NEHG已经包含了一个潜在的实施机制，为道路运输和建筑行业引入一个单独的欧盟排放权交易机制。
Open future of carbon taxes in the EU?
欧盟碳税的未来可观？
The Austrian ecological tax reform is agood case study of the current developments regarding carbon pricing in the EU.The European Commission has made several attempts to introduce a common EU widecarbon tax in the EU. For example, the Commission tried to implement a partial carbon taxation (via CO2-related minimum levels of taxation) in the ETD in2011. However, the proposal failed to get the required unanimous vote of the Council of the European Union.[6]
奥地利生态税改革是一个很好的案例研究根据碳定价在欧盟当前发展的。欧盟委员会曾多次尝试在欧盟引入一项欧盟范围内的共同碳税。例如，欧盟委员会试图在2011年的ETD中实施部分碳税(通过与二氧化碳相关的最低税收水平)。然而，该提案未能获得欧盟理事会所需的全票通过。
After several attempts,the Commission has now changed its strategy. Instead of a carbon tax, the Commission proposes an emission trading scheme. One decisive advantage of this approach is that emission trading schemes can be decided by an ordinary legislative procedure with qualified majority.[7] By that, the implementation of an emission trading scheme would become easier from apolitical point of view as unanimity is not needed. Moreover, part of the Fit for 55 package is also the recast of the ETD, to promote green technologies and to reduce outdated exemptions (e.g aviation). However, the proposal does not contain an attempt to implement carbon taxes anymore.
经过几次尝试，委员会现在改变了其战略。欧盟委员会提出了一个排放权交易机制，而不是碳税。这种方法的一个决定性优势是，排放权交易机制可以通过具有绝对多数的普通立法程序来决定。这样一来，从政治角度来看，排放权交易机制的实施将变得更容易，因为不需要达成一致。此外，“Fit for 55一揽子行动计划”的一部分也是对能源税收指令（ETD）的重塑，以促进绿色技术和减少过时的豁免(如航空)。然而，该提案不再包含实施碳税的尝试。
The shift in strategy shows that emission trading schemes will gain more importance in the EU’s climate policy compared to energy and carbon taxes in the future. Against this background,Germany and Austria are the first Member States that have implemented an upstream emission trading scheme in the EU. In contrast, the future of carbon taxes in the EU remains open as there are no more attempts to harmonize them at the EU level. While the ETD would still allow Member Statesto apply carbon taxes at a national level for the sectors outside the EU ETS,it remains to be seen whether Member States having a carbon tax in force at the moment will maintain their carbon taxes in the future if the proposed separate emission trading scheme is introduced at an EU level. Otherwise, those Member States would have two over lapping carbon pricing instruments on the sectors outside the current EU ETS in force. It is, therefore, possible that the implementation of a separate emission trading scheme for the sectors road transport and building leads to the slow disappearance of carbon taxes in the EU.
这一战略转变表明，与能源税和碳税相比，排放权交易机制将在未来的欧盟气候政策中发挥更大的作用。在此背景下，德国和奥地利是欧盟首批实施上游排放权交易机制的成员国。相比之下，欧盟碳税的未来仍然是开放的，因为没有更多的尝试在欧盟层面上协调它们。虽然 ETD 仍将允许成员国在国家层面对 EU ETS 以外的行业征收碳税，但目前实施碳税的成员国是否会在未来维持其碳税仍有待观察。提议的单独排放权交易机制是在欧盟层面引入的，否则，这些成员国在现行EU ETS之外的行业将有两个重叠的碳定价工具。因此，为道路运输和建筑行业实施单独的排放权交易机制，可能会导致欧盟碳税的缓慢消失。
Robin Damberger: Tax Specialist at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Austria. He was previously working as a Research Associate at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, where he also wrote his doctoral thesis on carbon taxes.
Robin Damberger:奥地利财政部税务专家。此前，他曾在维也纳经济与商业大学(Vienna University of Economics and Business)奥地利和国际税法研究所(Institute for austria and International Tax Law)担任副研究员，并在那里撰写了有关碳税的博士论文。
[1] Emissions from foreign vehiclesthat fill up their tanks in Austria are included in the Austrian emissionsinventory.
[2] See Chapter IVa, COM(2021) 551final.
[3] See COM(2021) 551 final, p 20.
[4] Road transport and buildingsector.
[5] See COM(2021) 551 final, p19-20.
[6] See Art 113 Treaty on theFunctioning of the European Union.
[7] See Art 192(a) Treaty on theFunctioning of the European Union.
