Payments for environmental services (PES) in Croatia – public and professional perception and needs for adaptation

Background and purpose: Croatia is one of the countries with a long practice of payments for environmental forests’ services (PES). Following the implementation of green tax in Croatia and present European trends, the aim of this research is to investigate state of economic mechanisms and possible need for change or adaptation to the new trends. Material and methods: Primary data were collected by interviewing forestry professionals in charge of collection and distributions of green tax to gain an insight of their perception on importance of green tax, their comments on recent decrease in prescribed rate and what are the issues related to tax collection. Also very short telephone questionnaires were conducted with taxpayers to get an impression on how taxpayers perceive their obligation, their awareness of the purpose of this payment, their participation in discussion related to green tax and do they receive annual reports from Croatian Forest Ltd. company related to money collected and spent. Secondary data consisted of review of relevant literature, legislation overview and analysis of reports on collection and distribution of green tax provided by Croatian Forests Ltd. company. Results and conclusion: Collected amount of green tax grew constantly given the period 1993-2009. Important factor was increased monitoring of tax collection. Main problems with green tax were constant change of governmental decisions and lack of transparency of tax distribution. Green tax was perceived as burden by taxpayers and their knowledge of its purpose was general at best