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Distributional Impacts of an Environmental Tax Shift: The Case of Motor Vehicle Emissions Taxes

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Author Info
Walls, Margaret () (Resources for the Future)
Hanson, Jean
Abstract

One of the most common criticisms of pollution taxes is that they are often believed to be inequitable — i.e., low income households are thought to be disproportionately harmed. In this paper, we assess the distributional impacts of three taxes aimed at reducing emissions from motor vehicles: (i) a tax on total annual emissions, (ii) a tax on emissions rates (in grams per mile), and (iii) a tax on annual miles traveled. We use two alternative measures of economic well-being, annual household income and a constructed measure of lifetime income. We find that all three fees look regressive, both on the basis of annual and lifetime income — though much less so on a lifetime income basis. However, if one of these fees is used to substitute for existing vehicle registration fees, the differential impacts over existing fees are quite small: on a lifetime income basis, the mileage-based fee looks almost identical to the current system, while the total emissions fee is a little more regressive and the emissions rate-based fee slightly more regressive still than the current system. These results highlight the importance of tax shifting to help the environment.

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Paper provided by Resources For the Future in its series Discussion Papers with number dp-96-11.

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Date of creation: 01 Jan 1996
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Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-96-11

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  1. Poterba, James M, 1989. "Lifetime Incidence and the Distributional Burden of Excise Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 325-30, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Rogers, D.L., 1993. "Measuring the Distributional Effects of Corrective Taxation," Papers 12-93-1, Pennsylvania State - Department of Economics.
  3. James M. Poterba, 1991. "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive?," NBER Working Papers 3578, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Lawrence H. Goulder, 1994. "Environmental Taxation and the "Double Dividend:" A Reader's Guide," NBER Working Papers 4896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Zeldes, Stephen P, 1989. "Consumption and Liquidity Constraints: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(2), pages 305-46, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Don Fullerton & Andrew Leicester & Stephen Smith, 2008. "Environmental Taxes," NBER Working Papers 14197, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. James M. Poterba, 1991. "Tax Policy to Combat Global Warming: On Designing a Carbon Tax," NBER Working Papers 3649, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Suits, Daniel B, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 747-52, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Goulder, Lawrence H., 1994. "Environmental Taxation and the "Double Dividend": A Reader's Guide," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH.
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