Tax solutions for market failures in the use of disposable plastic bags

This study aims to provide a legal analysis of the use of tax rules to correct market failures related to the use of disposable plastic bags. Thus, the objective was to answer the question: is taxation a mechanism capable of mitigating market failures due to physical origin, externalities and collective goods to discourage the use of single-use plastic bags and charge the social cost against the polluter? If so, what tax rules can be used? In the first chapter, will be analyzed the debate between Pigou and Coase on externalities and the concept of market failures. Also, will be identified those market failures that directly impact public policies to discourage the use of single-use plastic bags. In addition, some difficulties inherent to tax solutions will be presented and will be used the proportionality control to compare tax, restrictive and prohibitive policies. After that, will be analyzed the need of track the impact of extrafiscal rules, through clear rules for evaluating regulatory impact. In the second chapter, will be demonstrated the conceptual differences between environmental taxes (green taxes) and environmentally-oriented taxes. Afterward, the study will focus on environmentallyoriented taxes. In the third chapter, will be analyzed the tax solutions for market failures in the use of single-use plastic bags, such as: granting incentives for investment, tax creation, increase and reduction of taxes. The research results indicated that green taxes and environmentally-oriented taxes are valid solutions to reduce market failures related to the use of single-use plastic bags.