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Abstract
Energy taxes can produce substantial environmental and revenue benefits and are an important component of countries’ fiscal systems. Although the principle that these taxes should reflect global warming, air pollution, road congestion, and other adverse environmental impacts of energy use is well established, there has been little previous work providing guidance on how countries can put this principle into practice. This book develops a practical methodology, and associated tools, to show how the major environmental damages from energy can be quantified for different countries and used to design the efficient set of energy taxes.
Abstract
Many energy prices in many countries are wrong. They are set at levels that do not reflect environmental damage, notably global warming, air pollution, and various side effects of motor vehicle use. In so doing, many countries raise too much revenue from direct taxes on work effort and capital accumulation and too little from taxes on energy use.
Abstract
Fossil fuels are used pervasively to generate electricity, power transportation vehicles, and provide heat for buildings and manufacturing processes. Fuel combustion produces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and various local air pollutants, and use of transportation vehicles also causes road congestion, accidents, and (less important) pavement damage.
Abstract
The first part of this chapter discusses why environmental taxes or the equivalent emissions trading systems (ETSs) should be front and center in getting energy prices right, though design details, such as targeting the right base, exploiting the fiscal dividend, and establishing stable prices aligned to environmental damage, are critical. The second part discusses a variety of further design issues, including specifics for power generation and transportation fuels, the role of other instruments, overcoming challenges to price reform, and issues for low-income countries.
Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief review of the literature on valuing climate change damage from carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The heart of the chapter is about measuring damage from the most important harm from local air pollution: human mortality risk.
Abstract
This chapter consists of three sections focused on the three major, non-pollution-related externalities from motor vehicles: traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and (to a much lesser extent) wear and tear on the road network (relevant for trucks). Other data and assumptions needed to implement the corrective motor fuel tax formulas from Chapter 3 are discussed in the annexes to this chapter.
Abstract
This chapter summarizes the corrective tax estimates for coal, natural gas, and motor fuels based on the assumptions discussed in previous chapters, both for selected countries and, using ranges of values in heat maps, for all countries, and then discusses the fiscal, health, and environmental impacts of tax reform. Various tables in Annex 6.2 provide full details of this information, country by country, including estimates of current fuel taxes or subsidies.
Abstract
Encouraging environmentally sustainable growth is a problem faced by all countries. The beauty of fiscal instruments such as environmental taxes or tax-like instruments is that (albeit with some important caveats about base targeting, exploiting fiscal opportunities, and use of complementary instruments) they can achieve an efficient balance between environmental and economic concerns—if they are set to reflect environmental damage.