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Pass-through of motor gasoline taxes: Efficiency and efficacy of environmental taxes

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  • Kaufmann, Robert K.

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy and efficiency of environmental taxes, I analyze the rate at which taxes on motor gasoline are passed to consumers by estimating two cointegrating vector autoregression models for each of six states. For state models that specify the retail price of motor gasoline without taxes, exclusion tests suggest that taxes on motor gasoline are not passed to consumers on a one-for-one basis. For state models that specify the retail price of motor gasoline including taxes, results indicate that taxes are passed to wholesale prices in Florida and Massachusetts on a one-for-one basis and are passed to retail prices with a ‘mark-up’ in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, and are not fully passed through in Washington. State-specific rates of pass-through differ from results suggested by theory and fixed effects estimators, which may be biased by the presence of nonstationary data and the assumption that the rate of pass through is the same across states. Rates of pass through greater than one transfer $12.2 billion from consumers to retailers in FL, $2.3 billion in MA, and $19.2 billion in NY during the sample period, which represent 10.7%, 6.0%, and 23.9% of total expenditures on regular motor gasoline.

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  • Kaufmann, Robert K., 2019. "Pass-through of motor gasoline taxes: Efficiency and efficacy of environmental taxes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 207-215.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:125:y:2019:i:c:p:207-215
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.10.045
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kaufmann, Robert K. & Schroer, Colter, 2023. "Social and environmental events disrupt the relation between motor gasoline prices and market fundamentals," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Kpodar, Kangni & Imam, Patrick Amir, 2021. "To pass (or not to pass) through international fuel price changes to domestic fuel prices in developing countries: What are the drivers?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Can Erutku & Vincent Hildebrand, 2023. "Carbon tax pass‐through in Canadian retail gasoline markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(3), pages 940-963, August.
    6. George Deltas & Michael Polemis, 2024. "Price Pass-Through Dependence on the Source of Cost Increases: Evidence from the European Gasoline Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 65(2), pages 595-626, September.
    7. Nadezhda V. Ponomareva & Anna O. Zvereva & Ekaterina V. Golubtsova & Svetlana B. Ilyashenko, 2019. "Tax Incentives for use of Alternative Energy Sources in the Russian Federation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 144-148.
    8. Drolsbach, Chiara Patricia & Gail, Maximilian Maurice & Klotz, Phil-Adrian, 2023. "Pass-through of temporary fuel tax reductions: Evidence from Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    9. Kaufmann, Robert K., 2023. "Energy price volatility affects decisions to purchase energy using capital: Motor vehicles," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

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