Potential U.S. Regional and State Impacts of International Carbon Taxes

摘要

An international tax on fossil fuels would have a highly uneven economic impacton regions within the United States with Alaska and coal-producing and coal-using states suffering the greatest job losses, according to a study commissioned by the Commerce Department. By contrast, economic benefits would accrue to New England and the Pacific Southwest. The study, conducted by Data Resources, Inc., was part of a departmental program to determine the economic effects over the 25 to 30 years of measures that would be designed to stabilize and then cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent and thereby reduce the chances of global warming. A previous research paper indicated that a massive tax would be required and that it would have a considerable adverse impact on the United States as a whole by the year 2020; this study indicates how that impact would be distributed among regions and states. The study compared the probable economic performance of the nation (the 'base case') to the likely outcome after the taxes were imposed.