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Taxation on Nuclear Waste in Spain

Received: 24 January 2014     Accepted: 8 April 2014     Published: 10 April 2014
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Abstract

Fiscal Measures for Energy Sustainability Act 15/2012, modified by 16/2013 Act, established in Spain four new environmental taxes and extended the scope objective excise duties on mineral oils to tax the use of natural gas and coal as sources of electricity. One of the newly created taxes falls on all electric power producers, and has as tax base the turnover. The second one tax hydropower production and the other two fall on the nuclear industry. So, there are two new taxes in Spain on the production of electricity from nuclear sources. The first one is a tax on nuclear waste production; the second one is a tax on the storage of nuclear waste. However, these are not the only levies in the Spanish tax system affecting nuclear waste. At the State level there are already several charges on nuclear waste. At the regional level, on the other hand, two Autonomous Communities were taxing nuclear waste. The creation of these new State taxes will finish with the regional taxes, but the State will be oblige to compensate these regions for losing revenues. The purpose of this work is to carry out a critical analysis of the Spanish system of taxation on nuclear waste.

Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16
Page(s) 96-103
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Environmental Taxes, Nuclear Waste, Spanish Tax System

References
[1] Cfr. CNE (2012): Informe sobre el sector energético español (http://www.cne.es/cne/doc/publicaciones/20120309_PI_DEFICIT_ELECTRICO.pdf), p. 127.
[2] M. Barassi, and L. Del Federico (2005), “The notion of tax and the different types of taxes”, in B. Peteers (eds.), The concept of Tax, EATLP International Tax Series, v. 3, IBFD, pp. 69-70. E. González, E. (1996), Concepto actual de tribute: Análisis de jurisprudencia, Pamplona, Aranzadi.
[3] General Tax Law (Ley General Tributaria), n. 58, 17 December 2003, art. 2.
[4] L. Albentosa Puche (2009), “El papel del regulador en el sector eléctrico”, in Tratado de regulación del sector eléctrico, t.II, Thomson-Aranzadi, pp. 169-209. Today this Agency is integrated and replaced in its functions by the National Commission on Financial Markets and Competition, created by Act 3/2013, of June 4, and regulated by Royal Decree 657/2013, of 30 August [http:/ / www.cnmc.es / en-us / CNMC / normativa.aspx (last accessed 02/18/2014).]
[5] RD 661/2007, of 25 May 2007 (BOE [Spanish Official Bulletin], n. 126, 26 May 2007).
[6] "... the regulator (...) tends to set higher premiums than necessary to avoid the lack of investment, which generates some inefficiency" G. Sáenz de Miera Cárdenas and L.J. Sánchez de Tembleque (2009), “La regulación de las energías renovables”, in Tratado de regulación del sector eléctrico, t.II, Thomson-Aranzadi, p. 546 in fine (translated by the author).
[7] RD 1565/2010, of 19 November 2010 (BOE [Spanish Official Bulletin], n. 283, 23 November 2010) and RDL 14/2010, of 23 December 2010 (BOE [Spanish Official Bulletin], n. 312, 24 December 2010).
[8] R.I. Fernández López (2010): “Un enfoque de la tributación ambiental: la fiscalidad específica sobre fuentes de energía renovables”, in Quincena Fiscal, n. 22, p. 51, not. 31.
[9] “They belong to the category which the German doctrine would qualify as “special taxes or levies”, because they are not taxes as they are not related to a specific administrative activity, but as opposed to the taxes, they do affect a very reduced group of parties and tend to be assigned to special funds (which is not the case of these).” (See, E. Ortiz Calle (2010): “Los impuestos sobre el almacenamiento de residuos radiactivos a la luz del Derecho comunitario y el ordenamiento constitucional”, in Noticias de la Unión Europea, n. 326, p. 106).
[10] Cfr. Order HAP/538/2013, dated April 5 approving the models 584 and 585 on self presented returns for both taxes, and setting the method and forms for presenting them.
[11] “Definition according to this Royal Decree: (…) Orphan source: An encapsulated source whose level of radioactivity at the moment of discovery, exceeds the value of exemption set forth in tables A & B of Addendum I of the Regulation on nuclear and radioactive plants, and in the Instruction IS/05 of the Nuclear Security Council, and is not subject to a regulatory control, either because it has never been, or has been abandoned, lost, misplaced, stolen, or transferred to a new owner without due notification to the competent authority, or without the receiver having been informed” (Art. 2 of the RD 229/2006).
[12] Cfr. Law 18/2003, dated December 29, approving fiscal and administrative steps, amended pursuant to the Law 12/2006 dated December 27 and the Decree-Law 4/2010 dated July 6. For a detailed analysis, of this tax, see G. Patón García, y G.M. Luchena Mozo: Fiscalidad de los residuos en el ámbito autonómico, Bosch, Barcelona, pp. 143-162
[13] G. Patón García (2013) shares this opinion: “Tributos castellanomanchegos y energías renovables: la inconstitucionalidad del impuesto sobre la energía nuclear y la protección del entorno natural”, in Fiscalidad de la energía renovable (Dir. M. Lucas Duran), Aranzadi, in print.
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  • APA Style

    José A. Rozas. (2014). Taxation on Nuclear Waste in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 2(2), 96-103. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16

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    José A. Rozas. Taxation on Nuclear Waste in Spain. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2014, 2(2), 96-103. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16

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    AMA Style

    José A. Rozas. Taxation on Nuclear Waste in Spain. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2014;2(2):96-103. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16,
      author = {José A. Rozas},
      title = {Taxation on Nuclear Waste in Spain},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {96-103},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20140202.16},
      abstract = {Fiscal Measures for Energy Sustainability Act 15/2012, modified by 16/2013 Act, established in Spain four new environmental taxes and extended the scope objective excise duties on mineral oils to tax the use of natural gas and coal as sources of electricity. One of the newly created taxes falls on all electric power producers, and has as tax base the turnover. The second one tax hydropower production and the other two fall on the nuclear industry. So, there are two new taxes in Spain on the production of electricity from nuclear sources. The first one is a tax on nuclear waste production; the second one is a tax on the storage of nuclear waste. However, these are not the only levies in the Spanish tax system affecting nuclear waste. At the State level there are already several charges on nuclear waste. At the regional level, on the other hand, two Autonomous Communities were taxing nuclear waste. The creation of these new State taxes will finish with the regional taxes, but the State will be oblige to compensate these regions for losing revenues. The purpose of this work is to carry out a critical analysis of the Spanish system of taxation on nuclear waste.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    T2  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
    JF  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
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    AB  - Fiscal Measures for Energy Sustainability Act 15/2012, modified by 16/2013 Act, established in Spain four new environmental taxes and extended the scope objective excise duties on mineral oils to tax the use of natural gas and coal as sources of electricity. One of the newly created taxes falls on all electric power producers, and has as tax base the turnover. The second one tax hydropower production and the other two fall on the nuclear industry. So, there are two new taxes in Spain on the production of electricity from nuclear sources. The first one is a tax on nuclear waste production; the second one is a tax on the storage of nuclear waste. However, these are not the only levies in the Spanish tax system affecting nuclear waste. At the State level there are already several charges on nuclear waste. At the regional level, on the other hand, two Autonomous Communities were taxing nuclear waste. The creation of these new State taxes will finish with the regional taxes, but the State will be oblige to compensate these regions for losing revenues. The purpose of this work is to carry out a critical analysis of the Spanish system of taxation on nuclear waste.
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Author Information
  • Financial and Tax Law Dept., University of Barcelona, Spain

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