Carbon Tax Design and U.S. Industry Performance

The Design of a Carbon Tax

We consider the design of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions for the United States. We consider three major issues: the tax rate (including the use of the revenues and rate changes over time), the optimal tax base, and international trade concerns. We show that a well-designed carbon tax can capture about 80% of U.S. emissions by taxing only a few thousand taxpayers, and almost 90% with a modest...

Carbon Tax and Equity The importance of Policy Design

This research aims at clearing up misunderstandings about the distributive impacts of carbon taxes, which proved to be a decisive obstacle to their further consideration in public debates. It highlights the gap between partial equilibrium analyses, which are close to the agents’ perception of the costs of taxation, and general equilibrium analyses, which better capture its ultimate consequences...

Design and Performance of Kenya’s Tax System: An Inequality Perspective

The effectiveness of using taxation as a redistributive tool depends on the design of the tax system. The Kenyan tax system comprises two main direct taxes (individual income and corporate taxes), and three main indirect taxes (Value Added Tax, Excise tax and Customs duties). Usage of income taxes has declined over time. However, income taxes still contribute the largest share of total tax reve...

Optimal carbon tax doubled

Typically, cost–benefit analysis (CBA) has suggested ‘optimal’ carbon tax regimes that result in a global temperature rise of around 3 °C, or even eventually (post-2100) 4 °C, above preindustrial levels. However, risk analysis approaches indicate that these levels of temperature rise result in climate change impacts that pose a high or very high level of risk to society and ecosystems1 (Fig. 1)...

Effective Tax Functions for the US Individual Income Tax : 1966