IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eso/journl/v40y2009i3p317-338.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Distributional Impact of a Carbon Tax in Ireland

Author

Listed:
  • Verde, Stefano

    (Trinity College Dublin)

  • Tol, Richard S. J.

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

Abstract

We study the effects of carbon taxation and revenue recycling across the income distribution in Ireland. Price changes of fuels and all other final goods and services are taken into account. If applied only to the emissions not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, a carbon tax of €20/tCO2 would cost the poorest households around €3.5/week and the richest ones €5/week. The tax is regressive, therefore. However, if the revenue is used to increase social benefits and tax credits, households across the income distribution can be made better off without exhausting the total carbon tax revenue.

Suggested Citation

  • Verde, Stefano & Tol, Richard S. J., 2009. "The Distributional Impact of a Carbon Tax in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 40(3), pages 317-338.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:40:y:2009:i:3:p:317-338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.esr.ie/Vol40_3/04Tol.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brannlund, Runar & Nordstrom, Jonas, 2004. "Carbon tax simulations using a household demand model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 211-233, February.
    2. FitzGerald, John & Scott, Susan & Morgenroth, Edgar & FitzGerald, John, 2006. "Environment," Book Chapters, in: Morgenroth, Edgar (ed.),Ex-Ante Evaluation of the Investment Priorities for the National Development Plan 2007-2013, chapter 7, pages 98-102, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
      • Scott, Susan, 1997. "The Environment," Book Chapters, in: Honohan, Patrick (ed.),EU Structural Funds in Ireland: A Mid-Term Evaluation of the CSF 1994-99, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    3. Terry Barker & Jonathan Köhler, 1998. "Equity and ecotax reform in the EU: achieving a 10 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions using excise duties," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 375-402, November.
    4. Callan, Tim & Lyons, Sean & Scott, Susan & Tol, Richard S.J. & Verde, Stefano, 2009. "The distributional implications of a carbon tax in Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 407-412, February.
    5. Bohringer, Christoph & Hoffmann, Tim & Manrique-de-Lara-Penate, Casiano, 2006. "The efficiency costs of separating carbon markets under the EU emissions trading scheme: A quantitative assessment for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 44-61, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Environmental and Natural Resource Economics > Climate economics > Abatement costs > Distribution of abatement costs

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tchoffo, Rodrigue & Nkemgha, Guivis & Paul, Tadzong, 2019. "Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: Can indirect tax play a crucial role?," MPRA Paper 96457, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Oct 2019.
    2. de Bruin, Kelly & Yakut, Aykut Mert, 2018. "The economic and environmental impacts of increasing the Irish carbon tax," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS79.
    3. Eimear Leahy & Seán Lyons & Richard S. J. Tol, 2011. "The Distributional Effects of Value Added Tax in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 42(2), pages 213-235.
    4. Qiao-Mei Liang & Qian Wang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2013. "Assessing the Distributional Impacts of Carbon Tax among Households across Different Income Groups: The Case of China," Energy & Environment, , vol. 24(7-8), pages 1323-1346, December.
    5. Tovar Reaños, Miguel & Lynch, Muireann Á., 2019. "Distributional impacts of carbon taxation and revenue recycling: a behavioural microsimulation," Papers WP626, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2021. "Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 1-42, January.
    7. John Curtis, Valeria Di Cosmo, and Paul Deane, 2014. "Climate policy, interconnection and carbon leakage: The effect of unilateral UK policy on electricity and GHG emissions in Ireland," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    8. Farrell, Niall, 2017. "What Factors Drive Inequalities in Carbon Tax Incidence? Decomposing Socioeconomic Inequalities in Carbon Tax Incidence in Ireland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 31-45.
    9. Nils Ohlendorf & Michael Jakob & Jan Christoph Minx & Carsten Schröder & Jan Christoph Steckel, 2018. "Distributional Impacts of Climate Mitigation Policies - a Meta-Analysis," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1776, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. de Bruin, Kelly & Monaghan, Eoin & Yakut, Aykut Mert, 2019. "The economic and distributional impacts of an increased carbon tax with different revenue recycling schemes," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS95.
    11. McQuinn, Kieran & O’Toole, Conor & Allen-Coghlan, Matthew & Economides, Philip, 2019. "Quarterly Economic Commentary, Summer 2019," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number QEC2019sum, July.
    12. Niall Farrell & Seán Lyons, 2016. "Equity impacts of energy and climate policy: who is shouldering the burden?," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(5), pages 492-509, September.
    13. Ditya Agung Nurdianto, 2016. "Economic Impacts of a Carbon Tax in an Integrated ASEAN," EEPSEA Special and Technical Paper tp201604t5, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Apr 2016.
    14. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Wei, Yi-Ming & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2016. "Distributional effects of carbon taxation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1123-1131.
    15. Wu, T. & Thomassin, P.J., 2018. "The Impact of Carbon Tax on Food Prices and Consumption in Canada," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275913, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Tirkaso, Wondmagegn Tafesse & Gren, Ing-Marie, 2020. "Road fuel demand and regional effects of carbon taxes in Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lucia Rotaris & Alessandro Gardelli, 2018. "Carbon Tax acceptability: A comparative experimental analysis," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 117-132.
    2. Labandeira, Xavier & Labeaga, José M. & Rodríguez, Miguel, 2009. "An integrated economic and distributional analysis of energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5776-5786, December.
    3. Peter Grösche & Carsten Schröder, 2014. "On the redistributive effects of Germany’s feed-in tariff," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1339-1383, June.
    4. de Bruin, Kelly & Yakut, Aykut Mert, 2024. "Efficiency–equity trade-off in the Irish carbon tax: A CGE investigation of mixed revenue recycling schemes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Teixidó, Jordi J. & Verde, Stefano F., 2017. "Is the Gasoline Tax Regressive in the Twenty-First Century? Taking Wealth into Account," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 109-125.
    6. Chen, Shiyi, 2013. "What is the potential impact of a taxation system reform on carbon abatement and industrial growth in China?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 369-386.
    7. Kirchner, Mathias & Sommer, Mark & Kratena, Kurt & Kletzan-Slamanig, Daniela & Kettner-Marx, Claudia, 2019. "CO2 taxes, equity and the double dividend – Macroeconomic model simulations for Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 295-314.
    8. Samuel Meng, 2015. "Is the agricultural industry spared from the influence of the Australian carbon tax?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(1), pages 125-137, January.
    9. Pope, Jeff & Owen, Anthony D., 2009. "Emission trading schemes: potential revenue effects, compliance costs and overall tax policy issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4595-4603, November.
    10. Verde, Stefano F. & Pazienza, Maria Grazia, 2016. "Energy and climate hand-in-hand: Financing RES-E support with carbon revenues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 234-244.
    11. Wang, Qian & Hubacek, Klaus & Feng, Kuishuang & Wei, Yi-Ming & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2016. "Distributional effects of carbon taxation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1123-1131.
    12. Callan, Tim & Lyons, Sean & Scott, Susan & Tol, Richard S.J. & Verde, Stefano, 2009. "The distributional implications of a carbon tax in Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 407-412, February.
    13. Heindl, Peter & Löschel, Andreas, 2015. "Social implications of green growth policies from the perspective of energy sector reform and its impact on households," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-012, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Ekins, Paul & Pollitt, Hector & Barton, Jennifer & Blobel, Daniel, 2011. "The implications for households of environmental tax reform (ETR) in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2472-2485.
    15. Jiang, Zhujun & Shao, Shuai, 2014. "Distributional effects of a carbon tax on Chinese households: A case of Shanghai," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 269-277.
    16. Nikodinoska, Dragana & Schröder, Carsten, 2016. "On the emissions–inequality and emissions–welfare trade-offs in energy taxation: Evidence on the German car fuels tax," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 206-233.
    17. Wu, T. & Thomassin, P.J., 2018. "The Impact of Carbon Tax on Food Prices and Consumption in Canada," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275913, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Xaquín Garcia-Muros & Mercedes Burguillo & Mikel Gonzalez-Eguino & Desiderio Romero-Jordán, 2014. "Local air pollution and global climate change taxes: a distributional analysis," Working Papers 2014-01, BC3.
    19. Paula Pereda & Andrea Lucchesi, Carolina Policarpo Garcia, Bruno Toni Palialol, 2019. "Neutral carbon tax and environmental targets in Brazil," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2019_02, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    20. Nikodinoska, Dragana & Schröder, Carsten, 2015. "On the emissions-inequality trade-off in energy taxation: Evidence on the German car fuel tax," Discussion Papers 2015/6, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:40:y:2009:i:3:p:317-338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Aedin Doris (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.esr.ie .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.