Carbon tax

A coal fired power plant in Luchegorsk, Russia. A carbon tax would tax electricity production using coal.

A carbon tax is an environmental tax that is levied on the carbon content of fuels. Carbon atoms are present in every fossil fuel (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) and are released as carbon dioxide (CO₂) when they are burnt. In contrast, non-combustion energy sources—wind, sunlight, hydropower, and nuclear—do not convert hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide. A carbon tax can be implemented by taxing the burning of fossil fuels—coal, petroleum products such as gasoline and aviation fuel, and natural gas—in proportion to their carbon content. Accordingly, a carbon tax increases the competitiveness of non-carbon technologies compared to the traditional burning of fossil fuels, thus helping to protect the environment while raising revenues.

Background

Carbon dioxide: global warming contributor

CO₂ is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) The scientific consensus is that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming, and that carbon dioxide is the most important of these gases. Worldwide, 27 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced by human activity annually. The physical effect of CO₂ in the atmosphere can be measured as a change in the Earth-atmosphere system's energy balance – the radiative forcing of CO₂. Carbon taxes are one of the policies available to governments to reduce GHG emissions.

In the Kyoto Protocol, CO₂ emissions are regulated along with other GHGs. Different GHGs have different physical properties: the global warming potential is an internationally accepted scale of equivalence for other greenhouse gases in units of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Economic theory

A carbon tax is an indirect tax—a tax on a transaction—as opposed to a direct tax, which taxes income. A carbon tax is also called a price instrument, since it sets a price for carbon dioxide emissions. In economic theory, pollution is considered a negative externality, a negative effect on a party not directly involved in a transaction, which results in a market failure. To confront parties with the issue, the economist Arthur Pigou proposed taxing the goods (in this case fossil fuels) which were the source of the negative externality (carbon dioxide) so as to accurately reflect the cost of the goods' production to society, thereby internalizing the costs associated with the goods' production. A tax on a negative externality is called a Pigovian tax, and should equal the marginal damage costs.

Within Pigou's framework, the changes involved are marginal, and the size of the externality is assumed to be small enough not to distort the rest of the economy. Some argue that impact of climate change could result in catastrophe and non-marginal changes. "Non-marginal" means that the impact could, at some time future date, significantly reduce the growth rate in income and welfare. The amount of resources that should be devoted to avoiding low-probability, high cost climate change impacts is controversial. Policies designed to reduce carbon emissions could also have a non-marginal impact.

Prices of carbon (fossil) fuels are expected to continue increasing as more countries industrialize and add to the demand on fuel supplies. In addition to creating incentives for energy conservation, a carbon tax would put renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal on a more competitive footing, stimulating their growth.

Social cost of carbon

See also: Economic impacts of climate change § Marginal impacts

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is the marginal cost of emitting one extra tonne of carbon (as carbon dioxide) at any point in time. To calculate the SCC, the atmospheric residence time of carbon dioxide must be estimated, along with an estimate of the impacts of climate change. The impact of the extra tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must then be converted to the equivalent impacts when the tonne of carbon dioxide was emitted. In economics, comparing impacts over time requires a discount rate. This rate determines the weight placed on impacts occurring at different times.

According to economic theory, if SCC estimates were complete and markets perfect, a carbon tax should be set equal to the SCC. Emission permits would also have a value equal to the SCC. In reality, however, markets are not perfect, and SCC estimates are not complete (Yohe et al.., 2007:823).

An amount of CO₂ pollution is measured by the weight (mass) of the pollution. Sometimes this is measured directly as the weight of the carbon dioxide molecules. This is called a tonne of carbon dioxide and is abbreviated "tCO₂". Alternatively, the pollution's weight can be measured by adding up only the weight of the carbon atoms in the pollution, ignoring the oxygen atoms. This is called a tonne of carbon and is abbreviated "tC". Estimates of the dollar cost of carbon dioxide pollution is given per tonne, either carbon, $X/tC, or carbon dioxide, $X/tCO₂. One tC is roughly equivalent to 4 tCO₂.

Estimates of the SCC are highly uncertain. Yohe et al. (2007:813) summarized the literature on SCC estimates: peer-reviewed estimates of the SCC for 2005 had an average value of $43/tC with a standard deviation of $83/tC. The wide range of estimates is explained mostly by underlying uncertainties in the science of climate change (e.g., the climate sensitivity), different choices of discount rate, different valuations of economic and non-economic impacts, treatment of equity, and how potential catastrophic impacts are estimated. Other estimates of the SCC spanned at least three orders of magnitude, from less than $1/tC to over $1,500/tC. The true SCC is expected to increase over time. The rate of increase will very likely be 2 to 4% per year.

Carbon leakage

Carbon leakage is the effect that regulation of emissions in one country/sector has on the emissions in other countries/sectors that are not subject to the same regulation. Leakage effects can be both negative (i.e., increasing the effectiveness of reducing overall emissions) and positive (reducing the effectiveness of reducing overall emissions). Negative leakages, which are desirable, are usually referred to as "spill-over".

According to Goldemberg et al.. (1996, p. 28), short-term leakage effects need to be judged against leakage effects in the long-term. A policy that, for example, saw a carbon taxes set only in developed countries might lead to leakage of emissions to developing countries. However, a desirable negative leakage could occur due to a lowering in demands of coal, oil, and gas from the developed countries and thus the world prices. This will lead to developing countries being able to afford more of any fossil fuel type, thus being able to substitute more oil or gas for coal, in effect lowering their national emissions. In the long-run, however, if the transfer of less polluting technologies is delayed, this substitution by income effects might have no long-term benefit.

Border adjustments, tariffs and bans

A number of policies have been suggested to address concerns over competitive losses due to one country introducing a carbon tax while another country does not. Similar policies have also been suggested in an attempt to induce countries to introduce carbon taxes. Suggested policies include border adjustments, trade tariffs and trade bans.

Border adjustments would account for emissions attributable to imports from nations without a carbon price. An alternative would be trade bans or tariffs applied to non-taxing countries. It has been argued that such approaches could be disadvantageous to a target country as a trade measure (Gupta et al.., 2007). To date, World Trade Organization case law has not provided specific rulings on climate-related taxes.

Other types of taxes

Two other types of taxes that are related to carbon taxes are emissions taxes and energy taxes. An emissions tax on GHG emissions requires individual emitters to pay a fee, charge or tax for every tonne of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere, while an energy tax is charged directly on the energy commodities.

In terms of mitigating climate change, a carbon tax, which is levied according to the carbon content of fuels, is not a perfect substitute for a tax on CO₂ emissions. For example, a carbon tax encourages reduced use of fossil fuels, but it does not provide an incentive to mitigate or improve mitigation technologies, e.g. carbon capture and storage.

Energy taxes increase the price of energy uniformly, regardless of the emissions produced by the energy source (Fisher et al.., 1996, p. 416). An ad velorem energy tax is levied according to the energy content of a fuel or the value of an energy product, which may or may not be consistent with the emitted amounts of green house gases and their respective global warming potentials. Studies indicate that to reduce emissions by a certain amount, ad velorem energy taxes would be more costly than carbon taxes. However, although CO₂ emissions are an externality, using energy services may result in other negative externalities, e.g., air pollution. If these other externalities are accounted for, an energy tax may be more efficient than a carbon tax alone.

Petroleum (motor gasoline, diesel, jet fuel)

Many OECD countries have taxed fuel directly for many years for some applications; for example, the UK imposes duty directly on vehicle hydrocarbon oils, including petrol and diesel fuel. The duty is adjusted to ensure that the carbon content of different fuels is handled with equivalence.

While a direct tax should send a clear signal to the consumer, its use as an efficient mechanism to influence consumers' fuel use has been challenged in some areas:

• There may be delays of a decade or more as inefficient vehicles are replaced by newer models and the older models filter through the 'fleet'.
• There may be political reasons that deter policy makers from imposing a new range of charges on their electorate.
• There is some evidence that consumers' decisions on fuel economy are not entirely aligned to the price of fuel. In turn, this can deter manufacturers from producing vehicles that they judge have lower sales potential. Other efforts, such as imposing efficiency standards on manufacturers, or changing the income tax rules on taxable benefits, may be at least as significant.
• In many countries fuel is already taxed to influence transport behavior and to raise other public revenues. Historically, they have used these fuel taxes as a source of general revenue, as their experience has been that the price elasticity of fuel is low, thus increasing fuel taxation has only slightly impacted on their economies. However, in these circumstances the policy behind a carbon tax may be unclear.

Some also note that a suitably priced tax on vehicle fuel may also counterbalance the "rebound effect" that has been observed when vehicle fuel consumption has improved through the imposition of efficiency standards. Rather than reduce their overall consumption of fuel, consumers have been seen to make additional journeys or purchase heavier and more powerful vehicles.

Calculation

A carbon tax that compensates for the SCC varies by fuel source. The carbon dioxide production of the fuel source per unit mass or volume is multiplied by the SCC to obtain the tax. Based on the mean peer reviewed value ($43/tC or $12/tCO₂), the table below estimates the tax:

Fuel	CO2 Emissions (mass of CO2 produced)	Tax (per fuel unit)	CO2 Emissions (mass of CO2 produced)	Tax per kWh of electricity
gasoline	19.6 lb/US gal (2.35 kg/L)	$0.11/USgal ($0.42/L)	n/a	n/a
diesel fuel	22.4 lb/US gal (2.68 kg/L)	$0.12/USgal ($0.45/L)	n/a	n/a
jet fuel	22.1 lb/US gal (2.65 kg/L)	$0.12/USgal ($0.45/L)	n/a	n/a
natural gas	0.1206 lb/cu ft (1.93 kg/m3)	$0.00066/cu ft ($2.50/m3)	117 lb/MBTU (181 g/kWh)	$0.0066
coal(lignite)	2791 lb/ton (1.396 kg/kg)	n/a	215 lb/MBTU (333 g/kWh)	$0.0121
coal(subbutuminous)	3715 lb/ton (1.858 kg/kg)	n/a	213 lb/MBTU (330 g/kWh)	$0.0119
coal(butuminous)	4931 lb/ton (2.466 kg/kg)	n/a	205 lb/MBTU (317 g/kWh)	$0.0115
coal(anthracite)	5685 lb/ton (2.843 kg/kg)	n/a	227 lb/MBTU (351 g/kWh)	$0.0127

Note that the tax per kWh of electricity depends on the thermal efficiency of the generating power plant, which varies from power plant to power plant. The table follows the American Physical Society (APS) estimate of 10.3 BTU/Wh (33%). APS notes that "It is expected that future plants, especially those based on gas turbine systems, often will have higher efficiencies, in some cases exceeding 50%." A theoretical conversion rate of 100% is 3.412 BTU/Wh. A more practical limit for thermal power plants is Carnot's theorem.

Implementation

Both energy and carbon taxes have been implemented in responses to commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In most cases where an energy or carbon tax is implemented, the tax is implemented in combination with various forms of exemptions.

Australasia

Australia

Main articles: Garnaut Climate Change Review and Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

A cap-and-trade scheme or a carbon tax are options which are being considered in Australia. In 2007, the Productivity Commission suggested that a carbon tax should be implemented. Currently, the government seems intent on pursuing a cap-and-trade.

On 30 April 2007 the state Labor Governments commissioned the Garnaut Climate Change Review, whose sponsorship was joined by the Rudd Government soon after taking office in December 2007. The resulting report, delivered on 30 September 2008, recommended an Emissions trading cap-and-trade system. Subsequently the Rudd Government proposed a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which after much criticism, was voted down in the Australian Senate by both the Australian Greens (for being too ineffective), and the conservative Coalition (Australia) (for the effect on key economic sectors), as well as independent Senators Nick Xenophon and climate change sceptic Steve Fielding.

The Australian Greens are now proposing a interim Carbon tax of $A23 a tonne for two years.

In April 2010 a proposal was published by academics at the Australian National University for a carbon tax on major polluters (such as coal-fired power stations and oil companies) that would provide increased funding for Australian public hospitals and other health costs associated with climate change.

India

On July 1, 2010 India introduced a nation wide carbon tax of 50 rupees per metric tonne ($1.07/mt) of coal both produced and imported into India. In India coal is used to power more than half of the country’s electricity generation.

India's total coal production is estimated to reach 571.87 million tons in the year ending March, 2010 and is expected to import around 100 million tons. The carbon tax expects to raise 25 billion rupees ($535 million) for the financial year 2010-2011. According to Mukhergee, the clean energy tax will help to finance a National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF). Industry bodies have not favored the levy and rear that the resultant higher price of coal could trigger inflation.

While many remain apprehensive, a carbon tax is a step towards helping India meet their voluntary target to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released per unit of gross domestic product by 25% from 2005 levels by 2020. Ramesh told reporters in June of 2010 that a domestic tax should come before a global carbon tax, and India has imposed one while others debate the issue.

For more information about India’s carbon tax and other efforts being taken to mitigate climate change please follow the link to India’s Climate Change Initiative for 2010: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/India%20Taking%20on%20Climate%20Change.pdf

Japan

Currently Japan does not have any carbon tax regulations. In December 2009, nine industry groupings opposed the carbon tax at the opening day of the Copenhagen climate conference stating that "Japan should not consider a carbon tax as it would damage the economy which is already among the world's most energy efficient". The industry groupings represented the oil, cement, paper, chemical, gas, electric power, auto manufacturing and electronics, and information technology sectors. The sectors state that "the government has neither studied nor explained thoroughly enough why such a carbon tax is needed, how effective and fair it is and how the payments are to be used."

In 2005, an environmental tax proposed by Japanese authorities was also delayed due to major opposition from the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), other industries and consumers. The delay was "to avoid putting too much economic burden on end-users as they were already paying heavy taxes on fossil fuels amid high oil prices." The tax that was to be implemented would be 2,400 yen ($20.85 in 2005 dollars) on a tonne of carbon dioxide emitted from fuels. Tax on coal would be about 1.58 yen per kilogram and that on gasoline 1.52 yen per litre (4.3 cents per gallon in 2005 dollars). Officials estamated that the tax would generate income of 37 billion yen a year for the government and result in a payment of 2,100 yen per year for an average household.

Taiwan

Taiwan is currently still debating whether to pass the carbon tax policy or not, which will enforce in 2011. .The decisions are still being made. Since Taiwanese these years have a decreasing GDP from $31,600 (2007 est.) to $29,800 (2009 est.) due to economy crisis. In Oct, 2009, Premier Wu Den-yih(吳敦義) and legislators states that the carbon taxes would increase public sufferings; Government should not levy the new taxes until Taiwan’s economy recover. Therefore, he opposes the carbon tax in 2009. . Most voices from Taiwan citizens are opposing as well because no one is willing to pay the carbon tax with their little salaries. However, “Think-tank Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), which was commissioned by the government to advise on its plan to overhaul the nation's taxes, had recommended a levy of NT$2,000 (US$61.8, £37.6) on each tonne of CO2 emissions.” (Chan) “CIER estimated that Taiwan could raise NT$164.7bn (US$5.1bn, £3.1bn) from the energy tax and a further NT$239bn (US$7.3bn, £4.4bn) from the carbon levy on an annual basis by 2021.”(Chan) If Taiwan does pass the carbon tax policy, Taiwan could become the first carbon tax passing Asian country and obtain carbon tax revenues. . Since Taiwan produce large amount of CO2 emissions, the amount of revenues will be considerable large. Therefore, government is planning to subsidize the low income family and public transportation by using the revenues from carbon taxes. . Also one problem if Taiwan doesn’t enforce carbon taxes is that Taiwan has to pay carbon tariffs to other country; therefore, the revenues will fall in other countries. . In conclusion, it is so far vague whether Taiwan will enforce this new carbon taxes based on these information we have seen. However, with the current Taiwan economy, we can definitely say it is a hard decision for Taiwan government.

South Korea

On August 22, 2008 The Chong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue house – the executive office and official residence of the South Korean head of state, confirmed a list of 40 new administrative strategy agenda, which included substitution of a carbon tax with the current transportation tax. Most revenues of the tax amounting to an annual $11 trillion won ($10.4 billion) will be financed toward the “Low Carbon, Green Growth” move, which was announced in President Lee Myung-bak’s speech marking the nation’s 63rd Liberation day the week before the announcement. A carbon tax is imposed on emissions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. The direct taxation system is now applied to several European countries, such as Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, as well as several states in North America. The temporary transportation tax, one of the major objective taxes in the country, is slated to end in 2009. About 80 percent of its yield is used in transportation-related work like road construction. Additional taxation amendment could follow with a "tax on emissions" bottom line, in possible implementations of tax discrimination according to a vehicles' size and a carbon tax on the currently tax-free thermal power plants. Taxation on emissions is inevitable in that low carbon policies take substantial budget, the government says.

In February of 2010, a deputy finance minister Yoon Young-sun confirmed that South Korea is considering a carbon tax to help reduce emissions 4% from 2005 levels by 2020. This would be in conjunction with a cap-and-trade program to be implemented later this year. With a tax rate of 31,828 won (25 Euros) per ton of CO2, the South Korean government would collect 9.1 trillion won ($7.9 billion) in tax revenue based on 2007 emissions. Income from the carbon tax would be used to reduce corporate and income taxes. On July 22, 2010 Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for the South Korean government to delay the implementation of the carbon tax: "If the government applies much stricter guidelines over carbon emissions, then companies might be burdened."

On July 13, 2010 South Korea’s government announced plans to more than double its financing for green research and development projects to 3.5 trillion won ($2.9/£1.9bn) by 2013. The finance ministry decided that the new investment will be put into a new dedicated green fund operated by the state-run Korea Finance Corporation, for distribution to private sector projects. The government said that the fund forms part of a huge low-carbon investment drive that will see it invest a total of 107.4 trillion won, or two percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product, on green projects between 2009 and 2013.

However, the government signaled that in addition to setting aside state funds, it will ask private companies to contribute 2.4 trillion won to the fund. It added that spending from the fund will be directed mainly toward business involved in greenhouse gas emissions reduction and promoting energy efficiency. In addition, the government intends to expand its system of tax breaks to cover new technologies in solar, wind and thermal power, low-emission vehicles, rechargeable batteries and next generation nuclear reactors.

The government also set a voluntary target last year (2009) to reduce 2020 emissions by four percent on 2005 levels by 2020, and is expected to soon announce plans for carbon trading scheme to begin in 2012.

China

In 2009, the Chinese released a statement saying it will spend 40% of its stimulus plan on green projects. An environmental tax has been on the drawing board in China for at least five years but it always dies somewhere within the State Council’s regulatory review process. The environmental tax would have taxed traditional pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD) which are already subject to a levy system (a tax by any other name). In other words, the proposed environmental tax would only have replaced existing fees, yet it still faced significant opposition from forces sufficiently powerful enough to derail it. These would be the same forces who would oppose a carbon tax (the current levy system does not impose fees on carbon emissions). From current trends, China does not seem to have any plans to introduce a carbon tax anytime soon.

New Zealand

In 2005, the Fifth Labour Government proposed a carbon tax for New Zealand in order to meet obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. The proposal would have set an emissions price of NZ$15 per tonne of CO₂-equivalent. The planned tax was scheduled to take effect from April 2007, and applied across most economic sectors though with an exemption for methane emissions from farming and provisions for special exemptions from carbon intensive businesses if they adopted world's-best-practice standards of emissions.

After the 2005 election, the minor parties supporting the Fifth Labour Government opposed the proposed tax, and it was abandoned in December 2005. In 2008, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme was passed into law.

Europe

In Europe, a number of countries have imposed energy taxes or energy taxes based partly on carbon content. These include Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. None of these countries has been able to introduce a uniform carbon tax for fuels in all sectors.

European Union

During the 1990s, a carbon/energy tax was proposed at the EU level but failed due to industrial lobbying. As of 2010, the European Commission is considering implementing a pan-European minimum tax on pollution permits purchased under the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), in which the proposed new tax would be calculated in terms of carbon content rather than volume, so that fuels with high energy concentrations, despite their subsequently high carbon content, will no longer carry the same traditionally low price. According to the European Commission, the new plan will charge firms a minimum tax per metric tonne of carbon dioxide emissions at a suggested rate of €4 to €30 per tonne of carbon dioxide .

Denmark

As of the year 2002, the standard carbon tax rate since 1996 amounts to 100 DKK, Danish krone, per metric ton of CO2, equivalent to approximately 13 Euros or 18 US dollars . Net carbon emission tax from fuel combustion can vary depending on the level of pollution each source emits, the tax rate varies between 402 DKK per metric ton of oil to 5.6 DKK per metric ton of natural gas and 0 for non-combustible renewables. The rate for electricity is 1164 DKK per metric ton or 10 øre per kWh, equivalent to .013 Euros or .017 US dollars per kWh. The CO2 tax applies to all energy users, including the industrial sector. But the industrial companies can be taxed differently according to two principles: the process the energy is used for, and whether or not the company has entered into a voluntary agreement to apply energy efficiency measures. Danish policies like this provide incentives for companies to put in place more sustainable practices similar to a cap and trade program on carbon dioxide.

In 1992 Denmark issued a carbon dioxide tax which was about $14 for business and $7 for households, per ton of CO2. However, Denmark offers a tax refund for energy efficient changes. .

Finland

Finland was the first country in the 1990s to introduce a CO₂ tax, initially with few exemptions for specific fuels or sectors. Since then, however, energy taxation has been changed many times and substantially. These changes were related to the opening of the Nordic electricity market. Other Nordic countries exempted energy-intensive industries, and Finnish industries felt disadvantaged by this. Finland did place a border tax on imported electricity, but this was found to be out of line with EU single market legislation. Changes were then made to the carbon tax to partially exclude energy-intensive firms. This had the effect of increasing the costs of reducing CO₂ emissions (p. 16).

Vourc'h and Jimenez (2000, p. 17) stated that arguments based on competitive losses needed to be viewed with caution. For example, they suggested that carbon tax revenues could be used to reduce labour taxes, which would favour the competitiveness of non energy-intensive industries.

France

On September 10, 2009, France detailed a new carbon tax with a new levy on oil, gas and coal consumption by households and businesses that was supposed to come into effect on January 1, 2010. The new carbon tax would be 17 euros (25 US dollars) per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO₂) for households and businesses, which will raise the cost of a liter of unleaded fuel by about four cents (25 US cents per gallon). The total estimated income from the carbon tax is between 3 and 4.5 billion euros annually, with 55 percent of profit coming from households and 45 percent coming from businesses. The tax will not apply to electricity as mostly produced by France's network of nuclear reactors.

On December 30, the bill was blocked by the French Constitutional Council. It considered the bill included too many exceptions and said they were unconstitutional. It condemned the exemptions for industries as being unequal and inefficient, pointing out that less than half the whole emissions would have been taxed and saying it was unfair to apply the tax only to fuels and heating, which accounted for a limited part of carbon emissions. Discounts and exceptions would have applied to many aspects of industry and agriculture, including fishing, trucking, and farming. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, despite his vow to "lead the fight to save the human race from global warming" , did not support the bill, saying that France needed support from the rest of the European Union before it would try and proceed with a carbon tax.

Ireland

In 2004, following a policy review, the Irish government concluded that a carbon tax was not an appropriate policy option, however, a carbon tax of €15 per tonne of CO2 emissions (where 1 euro is about 1.32 US dollars as of August 2010) was introduced in the 2010 budget (which was delivered in December 2009).

The tax applies to kerosene, marked gas oil, liquid petroleum gas, fuel oil, and natural gas. The Natural Gas Carbon Tax does not apply to electricity because the cost of electricity is already included in pricing under the Single Electricity Market (SEM). Similarly, natural gas users are exempt from the tax if they can prove they are using the gas to "generate electricity, for chemical reduction, or for electrolytic or metallurgical processes"."A partial relief from the tax is granted for natural gas delivered for use in an installation that is covered by a greenhouse gas emissions permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. The natural gas concerned will be taxed at the minimum rate specified in the EU Energy Tax Directive, which is €0.54 per megawatt hour at gross calorific value." Pure biofuels are also exempt. The Economic and Social Research Institute has estimated the tax will cost between about €2 and €3 a week per household, or about €156 per year: a survey from the Central Statistics Office reports that Ireland's average disposable income was almost €48,000 in 2007.

There is concern that the carbon tax may disproportionately affect elderly persons and low-income households. One group, Active Retirement Ireland, proposes that "an extra allowance of €4 per week be made to people in receipt of the State pension for the 30 weeks currently covered by the fuel allowance," they suggest that "home heating oil be added to the categories covered under the Household Benefit Package, which is available to older people in receipt of the State pension".

The tax is paid by companies to the Collector General. Fraudulent violation is punishable under section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 which allows for a jail sentence of up to 5 years or a fine of no more than €126,970. Failure to comply with the tax violates section 73 of the Finance Act of 2010. Payment for the first accounting period was due in July 2010.

Netherlands

The Netherlands initiated a carbon tax in 1990. However, in 1992 it was replaced with a 50/50 carbon/energy tax called the Environmental Tax on Fuels. The charge was transformed into a tax and became part of general tax revenues. As such, it fell under the administration of the Ministry of Finance. The general fuel tax is collected on all fossil fuels. Fuels used as raw materials are not subject to the tax. Tax rates are based 50/50 on the energy and carbon contents of fuels. In 1996 The Regulatory Tax on Energy was another 50/50 carbon/energy tax was also implemented. The Environmental tax and the regulatory tax are 5.16 Dutch Florin, or Dfl, (~$3.13) or per metric ton of CO2 and 27.00 Dfl (~16.40) per metric ton CO2 respectively. Under the general fuel tax, electricity is not taxed, though fuels used to produce electricity are taxable. Energy-intensive industries used to benefit from preferential rates under this tax but the benefit was cancelled in January 1997. Also, since 1997 nuclear power has been taxed under the general fuel tax at the rate of NLG 31.95 per gram of uranium-235.38 The European Environment Agency put out a Executive Summary stating "Although the 5th Environmental Action Programme of the EU in 1992 recommended the greater use of economic instruments such as environmental taxes, there has been little progress in their use since then at the EU level." However, "at Member State level, there has been a continuing increase in the use of environmental taxes over the last decade, which has accelerated in the last 5-6 year...Countries including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom."

More recently, in 2007, The Netherlands introduced a Waste Fund that is funded by a carbon-based packaging tax. This tax encourages producers to create packaging that is recyclable and was implemented to help reach the goals of recycling 65% of used packaging by 2012. The company Nedvang (Nederland van arval naar grondstof or The Netherlands from waste to value), which was set up in 2005, is the largest organization supporting producers and importers of packaged goods reaching individual company goals under the Dutch packaging decree. This decree was signed in 2005 and states that producers and importers of packaged goods are responsible for the collection and recycling of that waste, and that at least 65% of that wast has to be recycled. Producers and importers can choose to reach the goals on an individual basis or by joining an organization like Nedvang.

The Carbon-Based Tax on Packaging consists of taxing:

• Glass: € 71,80/ tonne (~$ 91.99/ tonne)
• Aluminum (including Alloys): € 950,60/ tonne (~$ 1,219.00/ tonne)
• Ferrous metals: € 158,50/ tonne (~$ 203.09/ tonne)
• Plastics: € 470,50/ tonne (~$ 602.75/ tonne)
• Paper/Cardboard: € 79,50/ tonne (~$ 101.86/ tonne)
• Wood: € 21,00/ tonne (~$ 26.90/ tonne)

Sweden

On January 1, 1991, Sweden enacted a CO₂ tax, placing a tax of 0.25 SEK/kg ($100 or EUR 72 per ton) on the use of oil, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, and aviation fuel used in domestic travel. Industrial users paid half the rate (between 1993 and 1997, 25% of the rate), and certain high-energy industries such as commercial horticulture, mining, manufacturing and the pulp and paper industry were fully exempted from these new taxes.

In 1997 the rate was raised to 0.365 SEK/kg ($150 per ton) of CO₂ released. In 2007, the tax was SEK 930 (EUR 101) per ton of CO₂. The full tax is paid in transport, space heating, and non-combined heat and power generation. Owing to the many exemptions, oil accounts for 96% of the revenues from the tax, although it produces less than three-quarters of CO₂ from fuel combustion.

The tax is credited with spurring a significant move from fossil fuels to biomass. As Swedish Society for Nature Conservation climate change expert Emma Lindberg said, “It was the one major reason that steered society towards climate-friendly solutions. It made polluting more expensive and focused people on finding energy-efficient solutions.”

“It increased the use of bioenergy,” said University of Lund Professor Thomas Johansson, former director of energy and climate at the UN Development Programme. “It had a major impact in particular on heating. Every city in Sweden uses district heating. Before, coal or oil were used for district heating. Now biomass is used, usually waste from forests and forest industries.”

Economic growth appears to be unaffected. Between 1990 and 2006, Sweden’s economy grew by 44 percent.

UK

In 1993, the UK government introduced the fuel duty escalator (FDE), an environmental tax on retail petroleum products. The tax was explicitly designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transport sector. Since carbon is in fixed ratio to the quantity of fuel, the FDE roughly approximated a carbon tax. The transport lobby in the UK was extremely critical of the FDE. The FDE, which was the UK's only "real" carbon tax, failed because of the political criticism it provoked, and the automatic increase of the FDE was cancelled in 1999. Increases in fuel tax have since been discretionary.

The politically damaging fuel protests in 2000 contributed to the government decision to reduce the real rates of fuel tax. At the time, tax and duty represented more than 75% of the total pump price. In money terms, the past increments of the FDE remain in force, but in real terms, increments have been reduced by the rate of inflation. In 2006, tax represented about ⅔ of the pump price.

Norway

Norway introduced a CO₂ tax on fossil fuels in 1991. The tax started at a high rate of US$51 per metric ton of CO2 on gasoline, with an average tax of US$21 per metric ton The tax was also applied to diesel, mineral oil, oil and gas used in North Sea extraction activities. The International Energy Agency's (IEA) 2001 Review of Norway in the Energy Policies of IEA Countries stated that "since 1991 a carbon dioxide tax has applied in addition to excise taxes on fuel." It is among the highest carbon taxes in the OECD. Carbon taxation is also applied to the production of oil and gas offshore. The IEA estimates for revenue generated by the CO2 tax in 2004 were 7,808 million NOK (about US$1.3 billion in 2010 dollars).

According to IEA 2005 Review of Norway , Norway's CO₂ tax is its most important climate policy instrument, and covers about 64% of Norwegian CO₂ emissions and 52% of total GHG emissions. Some industry sectors have been granted exemptions from the tax to preserve their competitive position. Various studies in the 1990s, and an economic analysis by Statistics Norway, have estimated the effect of the CO₂ tax to be a reduction of 2.5-11% of Norwegian emissions under a business-as-usual approach (i.e., the predicted emissions that would have occurred without the tax). However, even with the carbon tax, Norway's per capita emissions rose by 43% between 1991 when the carbon tax was instated and 2008.

In January 2008 Norway, along with Iceland and Lichtenstein, joined the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) according to a publication from the European Commission. The Norwegian Ministry of the Environment has also released its draft National Allocation Plan which provides a carbon cap-and-trade of 15 million metric tonnes of CO₂, 8 million of which are set to be auctioned. According to the OECD Economic Survey of Norway 2010, the nation "has announced a target for 2008-12 10% below its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol and a 30% cut compared with 1990 by 2020."

Switzerland

In January of 2008, Switzerland implemented a CO₂ tax on all fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, unless they are used for energy. Gasoline and diesel fuels are not affected by the CO₂ tax. The tax is collected by the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. The tax amounts to CHF 12 per metric tonne CO₂ (US $11.41 per metric tonne CO₂), which is the equivalent of CHF 0.03 per litre of heating oil (US $0.029 per litre, US $0.0076 per gallon) and CHF 0.025 per m3 of natural gas (US $0.024 per m3). This tax comes from Switzerland's 1999 Federal Law on the Reduction of CO₂ (CO₂ Law). Although Switzerland prefers to rely on voluntary actions and measures to achieve emissions reductions, the CO₂ Law mandated the introduction of a CO₂ tax if voluntary measures proved to be insufficient. In 2005 the federal government decided that additional measures were needed to achieve emissions reductions and in 2007, the CO₂ tax was approved, coming into effect 2008. In 2010, the highest tax rate will be CHF 36 per metric tonne of CO₂ (US $11.41 per metric tonne CO₂).

Companies are allowed to exempt themselves from the tax by participating in a Swiss cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme where they voluntarily commit to legally binding targets to reduce their CO₂ emissions. Under this scheme, emission allowances are given to companies for free, and each year emission allowances equal to the amount of CO₂ emitted must be surrendered by the company. Companies are allowed to sell or trade excess permits. However, should a company fail to surrender the correct amount of allowances, they must pay the CO₂ tax retroactively for each tonne of CO₂ emitted since the exemption was granted. About 400 companies take part in trading CO₂ emission credits under this program. In 2009, for the second year in a row, the companies returned enough credits to the Swiss government to cover their CO₂ emissions for the year. The 2009 report shows that companies emitted only about 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂, falling well below the total permissible quantity of 3.1 million tonnes. The Swiss carbon market still remains fairly small, with few emissions permits being traded. Swiss domestic law tends to favor the use of a CO₂ tax to achieve emissions reductions and this preference for taxes combined with an immature carbon market could explain in part why Switzerland has not yet joined the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS).

The tax is revenue neutral, and its revenues are redistributed proportionally to companies and to the Swiss population. For example, if the population bears 60% of the tax burden, they will receive 60% of the redistribution. For companies, revenues will be redistributed to all companies, except those who chose to exempt themselves from the tax through the cap-and-trade program. The revenue is given to the companies in proportion to the total payroll of their employees and is distributed through an AHV compensation fund (Federal Old Age and Survivors' Insurance) that pays the relevant amount of revenue to the company. The revenues from the tax that were paid by the Swiss population are redistributed equally to all Swiss residents through health insurance companies and a deduction on their insurance premium. In June 2009 the Swiss Parliament decided to allocate about one-third of the revenue from the carbon tax to a 10 year building program for climate-friendly building renovations. This program promotes building renovations, the use of renewable energies, the utilization of waste heat, and building engineering. In 2008, the tax of CHF 12 per tonne of CO₂ raised around CHF 220 million (US $210 million) in revenue.

As part of the early-redistribution program decided by the Swiss Federal Council in 2009, the income for the tax from the 2008, 2009 and 2010 years are being distributed in 2010. As of June 16th, 2010, a total of around CHF 360 million (US $343 million) have become available for distribution to the Swiss population and economy. It is estimated that in 2010, at the highest tax rate of CHF 36 per tonne of CO₂, the revenue from the tax will be about CHF 630 million (US $600 million). Out of the projected CHF 630 million, CHF 200 million (US $191 million) will be allocated for the building program and the remaining CHF 430 million (US $410 million) will be redistributed in 2010 to the population and the economy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) commends Switzerland's CO₂ tax for its excellent design and notes that the recycling of the tax revenues to all citizens and enterprises is "sound fiscal practice".

Since 2005, transport fuels in Switzerland have been subjected to the Climate Cent Initiative surcharge--a surcharge of CHF 0.015 per litre on gasoline and diesel (US $0.0143 per litre, US $.0038 per gallon)--which will remain in place until the end of 2012. However, this surcharge can be supplemented with a CO₂ tax on transport fuels if emissions reductions are not satisfactory. In their 2007 review, the IEA recommended that Switzerland implement a CO₂ tax on transport fuels or increase the Climate Cent surcharge to better balance the high costs of meeting emissions reductions targets across sectors.

Switzerland is currently on track to meet its Kyoto Protocol commitment of an 8% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012. The combination of the CO₂ tax and other voluntary measures by businesses and private individuals is enabling Switzerland to achieve these reduction goals.

North America

Canada

In the 2008 Canadian federal election a carbon tax proposed by Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion, known as the Green Shift, became a central issue in the campaign. It would have been revenue-neutral, with increased taxation on carbon being balanced by tax cuts for individual citizens. However, it proved to be unpopular and contributed to the defeat of Liberal Party with its worst share of the popular vote since Confederation.

Although there is no federal carbon tax, some Canadian provinces do have carbon taxes:

• Quebec: The Canadian province of Quebec became the first in Canada to introduce a carbon tax. The tax was to be imposed on energy producers starting October 1, 2007, with revenue collected used for energy-efficiency programs including public transit.

• British Columbia: On February 19, 2008, the province of British Columbia announced its intention to implement a carbon tax of $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions (2.41 cents per litre on gasoline) beginning July 1, 2008, making BC the first North American jurisdiction to implement such a tax. The tax will increase each year after until 2012, reaching a final price of $30 per tonne (7.2 cents per litre at the pumps). Unlike previous proposals, legislation will keep the pending carbon tax revenue neutral by reducing corporate and income taxes at an equivalent rate. Also, the government will also reduce taxes above and beyond the carbon tax offset by $481 million over three years. In Jan., 2010, the carbon tax was applied to biodiesel. Looking at just the carbon tax portion, if you apply it (at 3.84 cents/L)equally to fossil and bio-diesel then the penalty/cost per tonne of fossil carbon for each fuel works outas follows: Regular Diesel with 2.68 Kg fossil C/L = $14.31/Tonne Fossil Carbon; Bio-Diesel with 0.15 Kg Fossil C/L = $256.00/Tonne Fossil Carbon. The tiny fossil carbon content in B100 (100% 'neat' biodiesel) will now be penalized at over 17x the rate of fossil carbon in regular diesel.

• Alberta: Alberta has a policy that looks something like a carbon tax.

United States

Colorado

In November 2006, voters in Boulder, Colorado passed what is proclaimed to be the first municipal 'carbon tax'. It is a tax on electricity consumption (utility bills) with deductions for using electricity from renewable sources (primarily Xcel's WindSource program). Their goal is to reduce carbon emissions to those outlined in the Kyoto Protocol; specifically to reduce their emissions by 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. Tax revenues get collected by Xcel Energy and are directed to the city's Office of Environmental Affairs to fund programs to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions.

The Climate Action Plan (CAP) tax is expected to raise $1.6 million dollars in 2010. The tax was increased to a maximum allowable rate by voters in 2009 in order to meet CAP goals. Currently the tax is set at $0.0049 /kWh for residential users (ave. $21 per year), $0.0009 /kWh for commercial (ave. $94 per year), and $0.0003 /kWh for industrial (ave. $9,600 per year). The revenues from the tax are expected to decrease over time as businesses and residents reduce their energy use and begin to use more solar and wind power. The tax will expire on March 31, 2013.

California

In May 2008, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which covers nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, passed a carbon tax on businesses of 4.4 cents per ton of CO₂.

Some states are considering the imposition of carbon taxes. For example in 2006, the state of California, passed AB-32 which requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a effort to execute AB-32 (Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006), the California Air Resources Board put forth the idea to implement a carbon tax but has yet to reach agreement with the Western States Petroleum Association who represent the refineries in the state. The WSPA holds that AB-32 only allows a carbon tax to cover administrative costs.

Maryland

In May 2010 Montgomery County, Maryland passed the nation's first county-level carbon tax. The new legislation calls for payments of $5 per ton of CO₂ emitted from any stationary source emitting more than a million tons a carbon dioxide during a calendar year. There is only one source of emissions fitting the criteria laid out by the council, an 850 megawatt coal-fired power plant owned by Mirant Corporation. The tax is expected to raise between $10 million and $15 million for the county which is facing a nearly $1 billion budget gap The plan calls for half of revenue to go toward creating a low interest loan plan for county residents to invest in residential energy efficiency upgrades. The County's energy supplier buys its energy at auction, so Mirant must continue to sell its energy at market value, which means no discernible increase in energy costs will be felt by the counties residents. In June of 2010 the Mirant Corporation opened a lawsuit against the county to stop the tax. It is expected that litigation will take years to be completed

Costa Rica

In 1997 Costa Rica imposed a 3.5 percent carbon tax on fossil fuels. A portion of the funds generated by the tax go to "Payment for Environmental Services" (PSA) program which gives incentives to property owners to practice sustainable development and forest conservation. Approximately 11% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by the plan. The program now pays out roughly $15 million a year to around 8,000 property owners. Similarly, Costa Rica has a tax on water pollution to penalize businesses and homeowners that dump sewage, agricultural chemicals, and other pollutants into waterways. In May 2007, the Costa Rican government announced its intentions to become 100 percent carbon neutral before 2030. As of 2010, Costa Rica is well on its way towards accomplishing this goal, currently producing 90 percent of its electricity through renewable sources.

Africa

South Africa

A tax on emissions is in the works for South Africa. Later in 2010 a tax on new motor vehicles will go into effect. This tax will apply at the time of sale, and will be related to the amount of CO2 emitted by the vehicle. The tax will apply to passenger cars first and eventually to commercial vehicles.

Harmonized carbon taxes

Cooper (1998, 2001) has been a leading proponent of a harmonized carbon tax (a tax where the country setting the tax keeps all the revenues). Under his proposals, all participating nations would be subject to a tax at a common rate, thus achieving cost-effectiveness. A number of problems have been suggested with Cooper's proposals:

• One criticism is of the fairness of having developing countries being subject to the same tax rates as developed countries, given their relative level of welfare and responsibility for the climate problem.
• It has been asked what incentive developed countries would have to adopt a tax.
• It is possible that governments would attempt to neutralize the effects of the tax on certain economic sectors.
• Given the presence of existing tax distortions, it might not be politically feasible to implement a uniform tax rate.

Support

Former US Vice President Al Gore strongly backed a carbon tax in his book, Earth in the Balance, but this became a political liability after the Republicans attacked him as a "dangerous fanatic". In 2000, when Gore ran for President, one commentator labeled Gore's carbon tax proposal a "central planning solution" harking back to "the New Deal politics of his father."

Former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker suggested (February 6, 2007) that "it would be wiser to impose a tax on oil, for example, than to wait for the market to drive up oil prices."

Climatologist James E. Hansen has argued in support of a carbon tax. A number of businesses and business leaders also support a carbon tax. These include:

• FedEx CEO Fred Smith;
• James Owens, CEO of Caterpillar;
• and Paul Anderson, CEO and Chairman of Duke Energy.

Prasad wrote about Denmark's carbon tax in the New York Times newspaper in 2008. In her view, the Danish carbon tax served as an example of how to reduce emissions in the US.

Carbon taxes compared to cap-and-trade

See also: Cap-and-trade

An alternative government policy to a carbon tax is a cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Emission levels of GHGs are capped and permits to pollute are freely allocated (called "grandfathering") or auctioned to polluters. Auctioning permits has significant economic advantages over grandfathering. In particular, auctioning raises revenues that can be used to reduce distortionary taxes and improve overall efficiency. A market may be allowed for these emission permits so that polluters can trade some or all of their permits with others (cap-and-trade). A hybrid instrument of a cap and carbon tax can be made by creating a price-floor and price-ceiling for emission permits. A carbon tax can also be implemented concurrently with a cap.

Unlike a cap system with grandfathered permits, a carbon tax raise revenues. If the revenues are used to reduce other distortionary taxes, this can improve the efficiency of the tax. On the other hand, a cap with grandfathered permits can have an efficiency advantage of being applied to all industries. This provides an equal incentive at the margin for all polluters to reduce their emissions. This is an advantage over a tax that exempts or has reduced rates for certain sectors.

Views

Both cap-and-trade and carbon taxes give polluters a financial incentive to reduce their GHG emissions. Carbon taxes provide price certainty on emissions, while a cap provides quantity certainty on emissions. A large body of the economics literature states that because of the uncertainty over the costs of reducing carbon emissions, carbon taxes should be preferred over carbon trading. In a literature assessment, Fisher et al.. (1996:430) concluded that the choice between an international quota (cap) system, or an international carbon tax, remained ambiguous.

Supporters of taxes over caps

• James E. Hansen has argued in a recent book (Storms of My Grandchildren) and in an open letter to President Obama, that policies to cap carbon emissions and trade permits for them (see cap and trade) will only make money for banks and hedge funds and allow 'business-as-usual' for the chief carbon-emitting industries. He advocates phasing out and protesting against coal-fired power stations that do not have onsite carbon sequestration and imposing a progressive carbon tax.
• Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, supports a carbon tax over cap-and-trade because employers will know exactly what they paid for the carbon dioxide they produced, and because a cap-and-trade system (with grandfathered permits) rewards those who have the highest emissions now and have done the least to reduce them previously.
• Gary Becker, a conservative economist, expressed his support for carbon taxes over cap-and-trade. Becker won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1992.
• On December 11, 2008, Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxonmobil, said a carbon tax is "a more direct, more transparent and more effective approach" than a cap and trade program, which he said, "inevitably introduces unnecessary cost and complexity." He also said that he hoped that the revenues from a carbon tax would be used to lower other taxes so as to be revenue neutral.
• The American Enterprise Institute, Environmental economist Jack Pezzey, economist Jeffrey Sachs (director of the Earth Institute of Columbia University), Yale economist William Nordhaus, The Earth Policy Institute, The Australia Institute, the Centre for Independent Studies, and Harvard professor, Gregory Mankiw also prefer carbon taxes to cap-and-trade.

Difficulties with taxes

According to the Carbon Trust (2009), a carbon tax suffers from combining a set price for carbon along with a transfer of revenue from industry to government. This, it is argued, guarantees that the tax will not be set at the appropriate level, but will instead be determined by the politics of large-scale revenue transfers. With a cap, however, the revenues from emission allowances can be separately negotiated with industry.

Another difficulty with taxes are whether the emissions reductions they bring about actually exist - that is, the "additionality" of emissions reductions (Carbon Trust, 2009). Additionality requires a comparison of observed emission reductions against an estimate of the emission reductions that would have taken place without the presence of the tax (the emissions "baseline"). The additionality of a carbon tax is difficult to establish due to effect that other policies have on emissions, e.g., subsidies and regulations. It would, for example, be possible for a government to introduce a carbon tax and then offset the impact of this by making other changes in tax structures.

Distributional impacts

In most instances, firms pass the costs of a carbon price onto consumers. Studies typically find that poor consumers spend a greater proportion of their income on energy-intensive goods and fuel. Therefore cost increases in energy tend to impact the poor worse than the rich.

Studies by Metcalf et al. (2008) and Metcalf (2009) consider the possible distributional impacts of carbon taxes in the United States. The 2008 study considers three recent tax bills introduced to the US Congress. The taxes themselves are highly regressive, but when revenues from the tax are returned lump-sum, the taxes become progressive. The 2009 study looks at a carbon tax combined with a reduction in payroll taxes. It is found that this combination can be distributionally neutral. With an adjustment in Social Security payments for the lowest-income households, the carbon tax policy can be made progressive.

A study by Ekins and Dresner (2004) considers the distributional impact in the UK of introducing a carbon tax and increasing fuel duty. It is found that a carbon tax can be made progressive, but that the tax would make those currently worst affected by fuel poverty more badly off. Of the policy options looked at for transport, the most effective in compensating low-income motorists is found to be an increase in fuel duties and the abolishment of vehicle excise duty.

Irish criticism

In Ireland it was speculated that a carbon tax would be introduced in the Government's supplementary April 2009 budget. This is a matter of concern for rural dwellers, who make up about one third of the Irish population. The NGO Irish Rural Link [1] has noted that according to the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) “a carbon tax would weigh more heavily on rural households”. Irish Rural Link claim that experience from other countries has shown that carbon taxation will only succeed if it is part of a comprehensive package of measures, which includes reducing some other taxes which does not appear to be the Government's approach. IRL claim that in the rush to introduce revenue raising measures the regressive effects of a carbon tax will not be adequately offset.

42% of Ireland's population live in rural areas. This figure is arrived at using spatial analysis to identify areas with less than 150 persons per square kilometre (the OECD definition of 'rural'.

See also

• Economics of global warming
• Cap and share
• Carbon Credit
• Environmental economics
• Gasoline tax
• Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (in the UK)
• Mitigation of global warming‎‎
• The Pigou Club
• Polluter pays principle
• Tax horsepower
• Tax on electricity
• Congestion pricing

Further reading

• Aldy, J. (9 August 2007). "Cap-and-Trade vs. Emission Tax: An Introduction". ClimatePolicy website. Retrieved 2009-08-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
• Cuervo, J. and V.P. Gandhi (1 May 1998). "Carbon Taxes - Their Macroeconomic Effects and Prospects for Global Adoption - A Survey of the Literature. Working Paper No. 98/73". International Monetary Fund, Fiscal Affairs Department. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
• Dower, R.C. and M.B. Zimmerman (August 1992). "The right climate for carbon taxes: Creating economic incentives to protect the environment". World Resources Institute website. Retrieved 2010-05-12.

External links

• Climate change at the OECD.
• The Carbon Tax Center
• Analysis of Proposed Carbon Tax Rates
• Energy Taxes — analysis by Global Policy Forum
• The Case for Charges on Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Richard Cooper, on behalf of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
• TACA Association's website Arguments for an Ecotax.
• GEMINI-E3 web is a web application which simulates world climate change policies and their impacts at the world level.
• France's Example: Understanding France’s Carbon Tax.