Water Pollution Taxes: A Good Idea Doomed to Failure?

James Boyd

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: Water pollution taxes, or effluent fees, have long been advocated by environmental economists as a regulatory approach to cost effectively achieve water quality improvements. The article reviews the arguments in favor of taxes and traces the history of the idea in U.S. policy debates. Particular attention is given to the institutional challenges presented by a tax system and its application in watershed contexts where transport phenomena are important. The article also addresses the question of why effluent taxes are so rarely seen in practice.

Keywords: water quality; effluent fees; market-based incentives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q25 Q28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Working Paper: Water Pollution Taxes: A Good Idea Doomed to Failure? (2003)
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