Carbon Taxation and Policy Labeling

Experience from American States and Canadian Provinces

Bibliographic Data

ID4074872
AuthorsBarry G Rabe (University of Michigan), Christopher P Borick, Christopher Borick (0000-0003-4850-119X, Muhlenberg College)
Year2012
Volume29
Issue3
Pages358-382
Publication date2012-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Policy Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1541-132X • E-ISSN: 1541-1338
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1541-1338.2012.00564.x
OpenAlexW1883482663
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited20

A vast economics literature embraces taxation of the carbon content of fossil fuels as the superior policy approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, experience around the world suggests that carbon taxes face exceedingly difficult political hurdles. Federal experience in the United States and in Canada confirms this pattern. This article reviews sub-federal policy development among American states and Canadian provinces, a great many of which have pursued climate policy development. With one major exception, explicit carbon taxation appears to remain a political nonstarter. At the same time, states and provinces have been placing indirect carbon prices on fossil fuel use through a wide range of policies. These tend to strategically alter labeling, avoiding the terms of "tax" and "carbon" in imposing costs. The article offers a framework for considering such strategies and examines common design features, including direct linkage between cost imposition and fund usage to build political support

Carbon tax · Climate policy · Economic policy · Economics · Face (sociological concept · Fossil fuel · Greenhouse gas · Natural resource economics · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Sociology · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law · Ecology

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