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The Optimal Gas Tax for California

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  • Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia
  • Prince, Lea

Abstract

This paper calculates the optimal gasoline tax for the state of California. According to our analysis, the optimal gasoline tax in California is $1.37/gallon, which is over 3 times the current California tax when excluding sales taxes. The Pigovian tax is the largest part of this tax, comprising $0.85/gallon. Of this, the congestion externality is taxed the most heavily, at $0.27, followed by oil security, accident externalities, local air pollution, and finally global climate change. The other major component, a Ramsey tax, comprises a full $0.52 of this tax, reflecting the efficiency in raising revenues from a tax on gasoline consumption due to the inelastic demand of this consumption good.

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  • Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia & Prince, Lea, 2010. "The Optimal Gas Tax for California," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt43k7p395, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt43k7p395
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    Cited by:

    1. Cook, Jonathan A. & Sanchirico, James N. & Salon, Deborah & Williams, Jeffrey, 2015. "Empirical distributions of vehicle use and fuel efficiency across space: Implications of asymmetry for measuring policy incidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 187-199.
    2. Bigerna, Simona & Bollino, Carlo Andrea, 2016. "Ramsey prices in the Italian electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 603-612.
    3. Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia & Zeng, Jieyin (Jean), 2013. "The elasticity of demand for gasoline in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 189-197.
    4. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "The impact of anti-congestion policies and the role of labor-supply margins," CEPIE Working Papers 04/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Passarelli, Francesco, 2014. "Regulation versus taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 147-156.
    6. Arturo Antón Sarabia & Fausto Hernández Trillo, 2019. "Internalizando externalidades: El impuesto a la gasolina en Guatemala," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, Enero-Mar.
    7. Yeh, Sonia & Burtraw, Dallas & Sterner, Thomas & Greene, David, 2021. "Tradable performance standards in the transportation sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    8. Atalla, Tarek & Bigerna, Simona & Bollino, Carlo Andrea & Polinori, Paolo, 2018. "An alternative assessment of global climate policies," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1272-1289.
    9. Wangsness, Paal Brevik, 2018. "How to road price in a world with electric vehicles and government budget constraints," Working Paper Series 10-2017, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.
    10. Heres-Del-Valle, David & Niemeier, Deb, 2011. "CO2 emissions: Are land-use changes enough for California to reduce VMT? Specification of a two-part model with instrumental variables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 150-161, January.
    11. Antón-Sarabia, Arturo & Hernández-Trillo, Fausto, 2014. "Optimal gasoline tax in developing, oil-producing countries: The case of Mexico," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 564-571.
    12. Sobieralski, Joseph B., 2013. "The optimal aviation gasoline tax for U.S. general aviation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 186-191.
    13. Georg Hirte & Stefan Tscharaktschiew, 2015. "Optimal Fuel Taxes and Heterogeneity of Cities," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 35(2), pages 173-209, October.
    14. Beaudoin, Justin & Chen, Yuan & Heres, David R. & Kheiravar, Khaled H. & Lade, Gabriel E. & Yi, Fujin & Zhang, Wei & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "Environmental Policies in the Transportation Sector: Taxes, Subsidies, Mandates, Restrictions, and Investment," ISU General Staff Papers 201808150700001050, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Mundaca, Gabriela, 2017. "How much can CO2 emissions be reduced if fossil fuel subsidies are removed?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 91-104.
    16. Hirte, Georg & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2020. "The role of labor-supply margins in shaping optimal transport taxes," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    17. Eliasson, Jonas & Börjesson, Maria, 2022. "Costs and benefits of parking charges in residential areas," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 95-109.
    18. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2014. "Shedding light on the appropriateness of the (high) gasoline tax level in Germany," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-210.
    19. Mariana Conte Grand & Alejandro Rasteletti, 2021. "Pérdidas de bienestar por imposición subóptima en los impuestos a las gasolinas en América Latina y el Caribe," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 821, Universidad del CEMA.
    20. Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2020. "Why are highway speed limits really justified? An equilibrium speed choice analysis," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 317-351.
    21. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.
    22. Georg Hirte & Stefan Tscharaktschiew, 2015. "Why not to choose the most convenient labor supply model? The impact of labor supply modeling on policy evaluation," ERSA conference papers ersa15p303, European Regional Science Association.
    23. Ghoddusi, Hamed & Rodivilov, Alexander & Roy, Mandira, 2021. "Income elasticity of demand versus consumption: Implications for energy policy analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    24. Madowitz, M. & Novan, K., 2013. "Gasoline taxes and revenue volatility: An application to California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 663-673.
    25. Kheiravar, Khaled H, 2019. "Economic and Econometric Analyses of the World Petroleum Industry, Energy Subsidies, and Air Pollution," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt3gj151w9, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.

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