"Excise taxes on smoking, drinking, gambling, polluting, and driving are very much in the news these days. Not only are these taxes convenient sources of government revenue, they can also be designed to reflect the external costs that consumers or producers of excisable products impose on other people. Global warming, acid rain, traffic congestion, and the economic costs cigarette and alcohol consumption are problems that can be corrected through selective excise taxes and other regulatory instruments. Excise taxes, moreover, are increasingly looked upon as revenue substitutes for distortionary taxes on capital and labour. These and other issues are addressed in this volume, which contains seven essays by a group of internationally recognized experts who analyse the current state of the art in excise taxation. The essays were initially presented at a conference on Excise Tax Policy and Administration held at the Dutch Ministry of Finance in The Hague, and attended by academics, government officials, and representatives of industry from numerous countries" -- Preface.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Economics and politics of excise taxation / Sijbren Cnossen -- Taxation of tobacco / Sijbren Cnossen and Michael Smart -- Economic issues in alcohol taxation / Stephen Smith -- Gambling Taxes / Charles T. Clotfelter / Environmentally related levies / Jean-Philippe Barde and Nils Axel Braathen -- An excise tax on municipal solid waste? / Don Fullerton -- Road user and congestion charges / David Michael Newbery -- Excise taxes : economics, politics, and psychology / Bruno S. Frey.