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This report provides an overview of the fundamental choices involved between a cost (tax) and a quantity (cap) control instrument, including a discussion of policy tools that could be employed to bridge the gap between a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade program. It also analyzes the potential advantages and disadvantages of a carbon tax, discusses implementation issues for a carbon tax -- including where to apply the tax, at what level to set the tax, and options for distributing the tax revenues-- and provides conclusions.

This paper analyzes the benefits and costs of a carbon fee‐and‐dividend (CFD) policy to individual rural Alaska households. The three study area regions are the Bethel Census Area, the Kusilvak Census Area, and the Northwest Arctic Borough. These three regions have the state’s highest fuel prices and very cold climates. The CFD policy consists of two elements. The first is a fee of $15 per metric ton of CO2 beginning in 2016 and increasing by $10 per ton in each subsequent year. The second is the complete return of all fees to households in the form of dividends, which are estimated to equal $300 for each adult plus $150 for each child (up to two). The annual dividends would increase in future years commensurate with the nationwide total amount of fees. Baseline conditions. The study area has a total population of about 32,000 people, many of whom live in large households with low cash income. Fuel prices averaged $6.62 per gallon in January 2015. ; Citizens' Climate Education Corporation ; Summary / Introduction / Dividends to households / Carbon fees paid by households / Discussion / References / Appendix A. Residential electricity use per household

We use a standard computable general equilibrium model to explore the fiscal implications of stringent carbon dioxide emission reduction in Europe. Both the immediate targets (20-30% by 2020) and the medium-term targets (80-90% by 2050) for abatement can be met with a carbon tax that is modest to sizeable. Imposing budget neutrality, a carbon tax that would allow all other taxes to fall by 5% (20%) would cut emissions by about 40% (80%). For 80% emission reduction, the carbon tax would only be the third largest tax in terms of revenue. A 40% emission reduction would cost about 1.5% of GDP. Costs are roughly exponential in abatement. The economic impact of emission reduction is minimized if the carbon tax revenue is preferentially used to reduce taxes on intermediates and import tariffs; such taxes, however, bring in little revenue at present. Emission reduction in Europe affects trade patterns across the world. It hampers the economies of West Asia and Africa, but has stimulating effect elsewhere. Economies everywhere outside Europe become more carbon-intensive. About one in four of emissions avoided in Europe are emitted elsewhere.

We demonstrate that the carbon tax imposed by the Canadian province of British Columbia, a unique carbon pricing policy that comprehensively applies to all fossil fuels, caused a decline in short-run gasoline demand that is significantly greater than would be expected from an equivalent increase in the market price of gasoline. That the carbon tax is more salient, or yields a larger change in demand than equivalent market price movements, is robust to a range of specifications including intuitively plausible and strong instrumental variables. Along with calculating the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions attributable to the tax, we discuss potential explanations for the differential consumer responses to the carbon tax relative to the market-determined price. / Nous démontrons que la taxe carbone imposée par la province canadienne de Colombie-Britannique, une politique unique qui s'applique complètement à tous les combustibles fossiles, a causé une baisse de la demande d'essence qui est significativement plus élevé que prévu d'une augmentation équivalente de la le prix du marché de l'essence. Que la taxe carbone est plus saillant, ou donne une plus grande variation de la demande que leurs équivalents des mouvements des prix du marché, est robuste à une série de spécifications, y compris intuitivement plausibles et fort variables instrumentales. Ainsi que le calcul de la réduction des émissions de dioxyde de carbone attribuables à la taxe, nous discutons des explications possibles pour les réactions des consommateurs différentielles à la taxe carbone par rapport au prix déterminé par le marché.

Boulder, Colorado, a small city located approximately 30 minutes outside of Denver, has historically funded its Climate Action Plan through a tax on electricity (“CAP tax.”) In addition to generating revenue, the CAP tax serves as a carbon pricing mechanism. With the CAP tax expiring in 2023, this report examines what updates the city could make to the tax so it: 1) continues to generate revenue, 2) incorporates other fuels such as natural gas, and 3) better reflects the societal cost of greenhouse gas emissions. We provide recommendations and next steps to the city based on our analysis of the city’s regulatory authority, research on worldwide carbon pricing systems, and quantitative model results. We find that a charge reflecting the full social cost of carbon (~$42 in 2020) could greatly increase revenue beyond historical CAP tax levels, and that incorporating the natural gas sector at a lower rate could provide long-term funding stability for the city.

Master of Law in Taxation Law. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.

MEng (Development and Management Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus ; The South African Carbon Tax Act came into effect in 2019, and it places a price on the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The second phase of the carbon tax will be implemented in 2023. Presently, there is uncertainty regarding the changes that will be made to tax policy during this review. This is especially problematic since GHG emissions mitigation strategies are dependent on the existing tax policy design. Subsequently, carbon taxpayers, like gold mining companies, cannot plan for future carbon tax-related scenarios. The uncertainty regarding carbon tax policy changes needs to be reduced to assist South African gold mines with future carbon tax planning. This study investigated a variety of scenarios associated with Phase 2 tax policy designs and GHG mitigation strategies. The uncertainty was reduced through the assessment of the impact of tax policy design, and emissions mitigation strategies, on a gold mining company’s future carbon tax exposure. This study developed possible carbon tax policy scenarios and emissions mitigation scenarios. An appropriate baseline scenario was identified for 2021 to 2027. The carbon tax exposure was calculated and forecasted for each scenario for the same period as the baseline. A sensitivity analysis was performed on these scenarios with reference to the baseline scenario. This was done to ascertain the sensitivity of carbon tax exposure to the scenarios themselves. The analysis of the carbon tax policy scenarios resulted in various findings. First, phasing out the basic tax-free allowance for fossil fuel combustion emissions would expose a gold mining company to more carbon tax annually compared to the baseline. However, the extent to which this is true could not be verified. Secondly, selecting a carbon budget based on national emissions reductions requirements, rather than a gold mining company’s mitigation potential, would lead to higher annual carbon tax exposure if said ...

Economics Department Honors Thesis. ; With Climate Change at the center of many global political and policy debates, a Pigouvian tax on carbon dioxide emissions remains a favorite solution among economists and other policy experts. However, asymmetric implementation of a carbon tax across the globe gives rise to several problems. A country which implements a carbon tax while others do not faces relatively higher energy and manufacturing costs than its taxless peers. As a result, its energy-intensive industries are made less competitive, and there is potential for significant carbon leakage. Border carbon adjustments (BCAs) are one measure designed to protect domestic firms and prevent carbon leakage, but there is not yet consensus on what form they might take. This thesis makes several recommendations for the design of a BCA and provides a prediction of the effect of a carbon tax combined with BCA on US production and carbon emissions. ; Economics ; College of Arts and Science