Ecological tax reform: Estimated environmental and employment effects in British Columbia.

摘要

Ecological tax reform involves implementing taxes on actions or outcome of actions which harm the environment. This study estimates the potential impacts of ecological tax reform in British Columbia. To do this, I simulated ecological taxes on water consumption, solid waste and carbon dioxide emissions in BC.; To simulate the response to the water and solid waste taxes, I used price elasticity estimates from the literature. To simulate carbon dioxide taxes, in a way that includes energy efficiency and fuel switching responses, I used an economy-wide simulation model. Two scenarios of ecological tax reform were tested, one having much higher tax rates than the other. In both scenarios, the tax rates increase over time. Changes in water consumption, solid waste and carbon dioxide emissions, and revenue generation resulting from the taxes, were simulated in five year intervals over twenty years. The tax revenue was recycled to the provincial economy as a decrease in payroll charges. Estimates from the literature, on the responsiveness of employment levels to lower payroll charges, were used to simulate changes in employment over the same twenty years. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)