Environmental Taxation: A Study on the Fragmented Legislations in India

The growing environmental challenges in India underscore the urgent need for a structured environmental taxation system. Within this context, tax and cess must not only penalize activities that are harmful to the environment but also serve as tools to fund sustainable initiatives. Despite this evolving and urgent need, India still lacks a unified national framework to regulate such endeavors, instead what exists are fragments of what one hopes for an integrated legislation. To address the same, this research paper analyses the state-level legislation concerning environmental taxation, focusing on the collection and allocation of the received funds toward ecological projects. To resolve the evident gaps in the data transparency, the present study relies on information that was obtained through filing of the RTI’s through the Right to Information Act, 2005. Based on the findings, the paper proposes a National Green Tax regime that is comprehensive and transparent while ensuring accountability and uniformity across jurisdictions.