Prioritization and taxonomy of factors related to environmental tax reform (ETR) using fuzzy AHP approach

• Published in: Management of environmental quality 2023-11, Vol.34 (6), p.1493-1515
• Main Authors: Askari Shahamabad, Mahdi, Rahimi, Alireza, Shamsadini, Kazem, Shafiee Hemmatabad, Milad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytic hierarchy process; Aquaculture; Carbon; Climate change; Decision making; Developing countries; Economic development; Economic growth; Economic impact; Economics; Efficiency; Emission standards; Emissions; Emissions control; Environmental degradation; Environmental impact; Environmental organizations; Environmental policy; Environmental protection; Environmental tax; Greenhouse gases; LDCs; Multiple criterion; Policy reform; Pollutants; Pollution control; Population studies; Public policy; Sustainability reporting; Sustainable development; Tax reform; Taxation; Taxes; Taxonomy
• ISSN: 1477-7835; 1758-6119
• DOI: 10.1108/MEQ-08-2022-0227

PurposeEnvironmental taxes have been in place for many years to reduce environmental damage and pay more attention to the environment. However, some of the adverse socio-economic impacts that may result from such taxes and the many challenges facing developing countries have necessitated policy reform. Therefore, identifying and prioritizing the factors related to environmental tax reform (ETR) is necessary to help governments and environmental protection agencies (EPAs) focus on this prioritizing to develop and improve this process. Awareness of the benefits of ETR encourages governments to use this policy to reduce adverse environmental impacts and contribute to economic growth.Design/methodology/approachThe primary purpose of this work is to prioritize and taxonomy the factors related to ETR using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) approach. In the first stage, 25 factors were extracted from the available literature. These factors were divided into five categories for more accessible review. In the second stage, the FAHP as a Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) Technique was used to prioritize and develop the taxonomy of identified factors and the categories of these factors.FindingsThe results show that reducing carbon emissions (DF4) is the essential prioritization factor that governments and environmental organizations can achieve if the ETR is implemented. Following that, reducing greenhouse gas emissions (DF1), double benefit (EcF7) and increase sustainability reports (EnF4) can be achieved by implementing ETR.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is geographically limited to Iran. In terms of the study population, this study is limited to 25 academic, tax and public policy experts. Moreover, in this study, FAHP is the only approach used. For further research, the results of this study can be compared with that of other multi-criteria techniques like FAHP, fuzzy TOPSIS or BWM.Practical implicationsRatings of factors related to ETR can guide and help governments identify important factors that affect environmental tax reform, which can, in addition to controlling ecological pollution will, increase the economic benefits of governments.Originality/valueThis study is the first to identify factors related to environmental tax reform and to develop an MCDM technique for prioritizing these factors and finding important ones.