Environmental taxation in the system of financial framework of regional environmental policy in Ukraine

The article addresses the theoretical and practical issues of regional environmental policy in Ukraine and financial framework for the implementation of its tasks. The author offers a definition of its concept as a system of goals and actions of authorities at all levels, business entities, civil society institutions, scientific institutions, etc. aimed at preserving the natural environment and achieving environmentally safe living conditions for the population of the region using appropriate methods and tools. The concept of its financial framework is considered. The article indicates the sources of financial resources that are used/could be used to achieve the goals of regional environmental policy by its levels: national, regional, and local. With regard to the regional environmental policy, the importance of environmental taxation as a tool for financial support for the implementation of its tasks and measures is emphasized. Meanwhile, the analysis of the place of environmental taxation in relation to the GDP and total tax revenues in Ukraine compared to the respective indicators of the EU member states demonstrates a low fiscal level of the domestic environmental tax. Also, the amount of environmental tax revenues to local budgets is insignificant, which in Ukraine as a whole and in most of its regions does not exceed 1% of total tax revenues. The share of environmental protection costs in local budget expenditures is also less than 1%. A significant burden of expenditures will be borne by local budgets given the environmental requirements for Ukraine as a candidate country for accession to the European Union, which require significant expenditures, and the fact that the investment opportunities of business entities, the vast majority of which belong to the municipal and public sectors of the economy, are extremely limited in the most capital-intensive areas of environmental protection (wastewater treatment, waste management, and protection and rehabilitation of soil, groundwater, and surface water). This will require an increase in environmental protection trust funds in the structure of special funds of local budgets, which will necessitate an increase in environmental tax. In this regard, a number of steps are suggested to strengthen the fiscal and targeted environmental protection function of environmental taxation, in particular in the context of financial support for the implementation of the tasks facing Ukraine with the acquisition of the status of a candidate state for accession to the European Union.