Yet the capacity of room taxes to internalize some external costs is clearly questionable. In particular,
their environmental nature is generally weak, as tax rates are generally too low
to have favorable environmental effects through a quantitative reduction
and/or qualitative modification of tourism.
Indeed, the conventional definition of environmental taxes requires a clear and direct relationship
with a specific environmental problem in order to punish the harmful behavior that the tax intends to modify.
Obviously, the link between the use of accommodation and environmental damage is not perfect,
so the lodging taxes fail in this respect. Furthermore, earmarking the revenue of any tax
to finance environmental policies does not characterize it as an environmental tax either,
despite the insistence of some commentators, which is not desirable in any case
because it limits policy programs to specific tax resources,
and this may result in excessive or inadequate funding of environmental protection