Taxing raw materials: a qualitative study of the Swedish tax on natural gravel and the Danish tax on raw materials

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The first of June 1996 a tax on natural gravel was introduced in Sweden. Denmark has since January 1990 a tax on raw materials that includes natural gravel and crushed rock. Both taxes have the purpose to increase competitiveness for alternative materials and consequently reduce the use of the taxed materials. The main purpose of this thesis was to, from an economic efficiency point of view: compare the existing taxes in Sweden and Denmark to what is theoretically optimal and evaluate the efficiency for the both taxes. The external costs from extraction of the natural gravel and the raw materials are not estimated and consequently it is not evaluated whether the taxes are socially optimal or not. The taxes were compared with theory about environmental taxes, considering if they are economic efficient regarding costs and administration. To see how the taxes have affected the use of materials, secondary data about the production was used. The conclusion drawn was that both taxes influence behavior and are relatively cost efficient. Since the external effect can vary in different regions, both taxes could become more efficient by taking regional differences in consideration. The Danish tax co...