IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/alo/isipdp/08-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The incidence of fuel taxation in India

Author

Listed:
  • Ashokankur Datta

    (Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi
    Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi)

Abstract

Fuel taxes have returned to centre stage as a potential policy instrument for greenhouse gas abatement. However critics have complained that a fuel tax is regressive. Such claims are based on few studies conducted in developed countries. This paper tests the validity of this claim for India. It uses data from a representative household survey covering more than 124 thousand Indian households. The study finds that a fuel tax is progressive. Using an input-output approach, this paper tries to study the distributional effect, once price change in non fuel goods (arising out of fuel tax) is considered. The progressivity result holds good even when one considers indirect consumption of fuel through its use as an intermediate input.

Suggested Citation

  • Ashokankur Datta, 2008. "The incidence of fuel taxation in India," Discussion Papers 08-05, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    • Handle: RePEc:alo:isipdp:08-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.isid.ac.in/~pu/dispapers/dp08-05.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Poterba, 1991. "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 145-164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Thomas Sterner (ed.), 1999. "The Market and the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1567.
    3. Baland, Jean-Marie & Bardhan, Pranab & Das, Sangmitra & Mookherjee, Dilip & Sarkar, Rinki, 2007. "Managing the Environmental Consequences of Growth: Forest Degradation in the Indian mid-Himalayas," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 3(1), pages 215-277.
    4. Sir Nicholas Stern, 2006. "What is the Economics of Climate Change?," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 7(2), pages 1-10, April.
    5. Steininger, Karl W. & Friedl, Birgit & Gebetsroither, Brigitte, 2007. "Sustainability impacts of car road pricing: A computable general equilibrium analysis for Austria," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 59-69, June.
    6. West, Sarah E. & Williams, R.C.Roberton III, 2004. "Estimates from a consumer demand system: implications for the incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 535-558, May.
    7. Gangopadhyay, Shubhashis & Ramaswami, Bharat & Wadhwa, Wilima, 2005. "Reducing subsidies on household fuels in India: how will it affect the poor?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(18), pages 2326-2336, December.
    8. West, Sarah E., 2004. "Distributional effects of alternative vehicle pollution control policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 735-757, March.
    9. Gupta, Gautam & Kohlin, Gunnar, 2006. "Preferences for domestic fuel: Analysis with socio-economic factors and rankings in Kolkata, India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 107-121, April.
    10. Gundimeda, Haripriya & Kohlin, Gunnar, 2008. "Fuel demand elasticities for energy and environmental policies: Indian sample survey evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 517-546, March.
    11. Mr. Kangni R Kpodar, 2006. "Distributional Effects of Oil Price Changeson Household Expenditures: Evidence From Mali," IMF Working Papers 2006/091, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pooja Rathore & Sangeeta Bansal, 2013. "Distributional Effects of Adopting Carbon Tax in India," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 5(3), pages 271-302, December.
    2. Blackman, Allen & Osakwe, Rebecca & Alpizar, Francisco, 2010. "Fuel tax incidence in developing countries: The case of Costa Rica," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2208-2215, May.
    3. Sterner, Thomas, 2012. "Distributional effects of taxing transport fuel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 75-83.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Datta, Ashokankur, 2010. "The incidence of fuel taxation in India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 26-33, September.
    2. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    3. Roberton C. Williams III, 2016. "Environmental Taxation," NBER Working Papers 22303, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Parry, Ian W.H. & Sigman, Hilary & Walls, Margaret & Williams, Roberton C., III, 2005. "The Incidence of Pollution Control Policies," Discussion Papers 10651, Resources for the Future.
    5. Tovar Reaños, Miguel A. & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2018. "Fuel for inequality: Distributional effects of environmental reforms on private transport," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 28-43.
    6. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Emeric Henry & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2005. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Gasoline Taxes: An Econometrically Based Multi-market Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 282-287, May.
    7. Silvia Tiezzi & Stefano F. Verde, 2017. "The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications," RSCAS Working Papers 2017/06, European University Institute.
    8. Gillingham, Kenneth & Munk-Nielsen, Anders, 2019. "A tale of two tails: Commuting and the fuel price response in driving," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 27-40.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/10084 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Antonio M. Bento & Lawrence H. Goulder & Mark R. Jacobsen & Roger H. von Haefen, 2009. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased US Gasoline Taxes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 667-699, June.
    11. Don Fullerton, 2008. "Distributional Effects of Environmental and Energy Policy: An Introduction," NBER Working Papers 14241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2018. "Distributional Impacts of Climate Mitigation Policies - a Meta-Analysis," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1776, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Wadud, Zia & Graham, Daniel J. & Noland, Robert B., 2009. "Modelling fuel demand for different socio-economic groups," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(12), pages 2740-2749, December.
    14. Silvia Tiezzi & Stefano F. Verde, 2019. "The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 145-169, June.
    15. 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.
    16. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/10084 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Silvia Tiezzi & Stefano F. Verde, 2019. "The signaling effect of gasoline taxes and its distributional implications," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 145-169, June.
    18. Sterner, Thomas, 2012. "Distributional effects of taxing transport fuel," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 75-83.
    19. Leif Jacobs & Lara Quack & Mario Mechtel, 2021. "Distributional Effects of Carbon Pricing by Transport Fuel Taxation," Working Paper Series in Economics 405, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    20. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/10084 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Essi Eerola & Anni Huhtala, 2008. "Voting for Environmental Policy Under Income and Preference Heterogeneity," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(1), pages 256-266.
    22. Spiller, Elisheba & Stephens, Heather M., 2012. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Gasoline Taxes: Why Where We Live Matters," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-30, Resources for the Future.
    23. Lawrence Goulder, 2007. "Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Increased U.S. Gasoline Taxes," Discussion Papers 07-009, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon emission; tax burden; regressivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:alo:isipdp:08-05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Debasis Mishra (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isindin.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.