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Environmental Taxes and Pre-Existing Distortions: The Normalization Trap

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Author Info
Ronnie Schöb

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Abstract

The double-dividend hypothesisclaims that green taxes will both improve the environment andreduce the distortions of existing taxes. According to the earlierliterature on the double dividend the tax rate for pollutinggoods should be higher than the Pigovian tax which fully internalizesthe marginal social damage from pollution, in order to obtaina ’second dividend‘. On the contrary, Bovenberg and de Mooij(1994) argue that environmental taxes typically exacerbate, ratherthan alleviate, pre-existing distortions. The optimal pollutiontax should therefore lie below the Pigovian tax. This paper pointsout that there is no real contradiction between these apparentlyopposing policy recommendations. It will be shown that the differencein the results appears because, implicitly, different definitionsof the second-best optimal pollution tax are chosen. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal International Tax and Public Finance.

Volume (Year): 4 (1997)
Issue (Month): 2 (May)
Pages: 167-176
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Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:4:y:1997:i:2:p:167-176

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Related research
Keywords: Second-best Environmental Taxation; Distortionary Taxation; Double-dividend; Normalization;

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stern, N H, 1974. "Pigou, Taxation and Public Goods," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 119-28, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Dixit, A. K. & Munk, K. J., 1977. "Welfare effects of tax and price changes : A correction," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 103-107, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Don Fullerton, 1996. "Second-Best Pollution Taxes," NBER Working Papers 5511, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Lee, Dwight R. & Misiolek, Walter S., 1986. "Substituting pollution taxation for general taxation: Some implications for efficiency in pollutions taxation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 338-347, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Parry Ian W. H., 1995. "Pollution Taxes and Revenue Recycling," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages S64-S77, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Diamond, P. A., 1975. "A many-person Ramsey tax rule," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 335-342, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Terkla, David, 1984. "The efficiency value of effluent tax revenues," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 107-123, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Auerbach, Alan J., 1985. "The theory of excess burden and optimal taxation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 61-127 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Sandmo, Agnar, 1974. "A Note on the Structure of Optimal Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 701-06, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Pearce, David W, 1991. "The Role of Carbon Taxes in Adjusting to Global Warming," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(407), pages 938-48, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2000. "Environmental Levies and Distortionary Taxation: Pigou, Taxation, and Pollution," NBER Working Papers 7917, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Basharat A.K. Pitafi & James A. Roumasset, 2002. "Optimal Green Taxation With Both Emission and Commodity Taxes," Working Papers 200208, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Miguel Rodríguez & Eduardo L. Giménez, 2006. "Pigou’s Dividend versus Ramsey’s Dividend in the Double Dividend Literature," Working Papers 2006.85, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Alan J. Auerbach & James R. Hines Jr., 2001. "Taxation and Economic Efficiency," NBER Working Papers 8181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Walls, Margaret, 2003. "The Role of Economics in Extended Producer Responsibility: Making Policy Choices and Setting Policy Goals," Discussion Papers dp-03-11, Resources For the Future. [Downloadable!]
  6. Taheripour, Farzad & Khanna, Madhu & Nelson, Charles, 2005. "Welfare Impacts of Alternative Public Policies for Environmental Protection in Agriculture in an Open Economy: A General Equilibrium Framework," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19317, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
  7. William K. Jaeger, 2001. "Setting Environmental Taxes in a Second-best World," Department of Economics Working Papers 186, Department of Economics, Williams College. [Downloadable!]
  8. Charles Ballard & John Goddeeris & Sang-Kyum Kim, 2005. "Non-Homothetic Preferences and the Non-Environmental Effects of Environmental Taxes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 115-130, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Don Fullerton & Ann Wolverton, 2000. "Two Generalizations of a Deposit-Refund Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 238-242, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Yew-Kwang Ng, 2004. "Optimal Environmental Charges/Taxes: Easy to Estimate and Surplus-yielding," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 28(4), pages 395-408, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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