Climate Policy and Fiscal Constraints: Do Tax Interactions Outweigh Carbon Leakage?

Carolyn Fischer and Alan Fox (alan.fox@usitc.gov)

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: Climate policymaking faces twin challenges of carbon leakage and public sector revenue requirements. A large literature advocates the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) pricing and recycling the revenues to lower distorting taxes as a way to minimize costs. In this paper, we explore the implications of labor tax interactions for the cost-effectiveness of border adjustments and other measures to cope with leakage. We find that, for plausible values of labor supply elasticities, the cost savings from revenue recycling are significant—from 15 to 25 percent. The cost savings from anti-leakage measures are generally smaller, but also significant, particularly for small coalitions or more binding reduction targets. Tax interactions further enhance the cost savings from border adjustments, but make other measures like rebates or exemptions less attractive.

Keywords: climate policy; carbon leakage; tax interactions; border adjustments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H21 Q37 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-08-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-pbe and nep-res
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Journal Article: Climate policy and fiscal constraints: Do tax interactions outweigh carbon leakage? (2012)
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