Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: To protect environment, government is able to use various policies including command and control or economic instrument. But to achieve the success, each policy should be implemented appropriately. And this cannot happen if government officials still do not understand clearly about the tools or instruments.

     Training and educational initiatives: Providing related government officials some theoretical concepts for environmental taxation will help them operate or even develop the environmental tax policies better.

Background in summary:

     Tax instrument: The government of Thailand wishes to promote environmental taxes both as an effective supplement to command and control regulation, and as an instrument to increase the financial sustainability of environmental investments through user charges. The theoretical concepts for environmental taxes are well understood by staffs in relevant ministry offices and research institutions and a couple of environmental tax success stories exist in Thailand. Yet, further examples of well-conceived environmental taxes need to be developed, tested and disseminated if environmental taxes are to become more than a marginal tool in Thai environmental policy.

     Development Objective:

      Strengthen environmental tax policy developed in Thailand

     Outputs:

1. Medium to long-term policy framework for the direction of environmental taxation.
   
   
2. Two or three fully developed environmental tax proposals in pioneer areas prepared for submission to the MOF and the Cabinet for approval.
   
   
3. Procedures for the efficient use of inter-ministerial working groups presided by the MOF for design environmental taxes.
   
   
4. Identification of capacity building needs at national, provincial and local level to make the proposed environmental tax schemes implementable.
   
   
5. Trained MOF staffs in developing integrated concepts for environmental taxation and for the practical implementation of environmental taxation policies.
   
   

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
3	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
3	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		-	Participation of the community
2	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	-	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	3	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
3	Level of development adaptability.	-	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	-	Ability to attract political interest/support
3	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:       There should be some mitigation program or feedback program to see whether the trained officials better understand about the environmental taxation. Therefore, the improvement of the training program can be done in the next moment. Sustainability of the project:      Awareness and vision: The sustainability of the project depends on the awareness and visions of how important of tax instrument is, as a tool to improve environmental problem, also the visions of how important of the government officials is, as a decision-maker and implementator in tax policy. Adaptability of the project to other situations:   Process of decision making and implementation:      Training and educational initiatives: The understanding in mechanism of environmental taxes can increase the effectiveness of it. However, in the real world, the situation may be different from the theoretical concept. Training program should include the past experiences of the country and also other countries. Analysis of each tax policy is necessary to examine the key factors for the success of it. Cost efficiency: