Study of energy tax and rebate schemes: energy conservation and the question of equity
Taxing all kinds of primary energy at the wellhead on a $/Btu basis is suggested. This aims at inducing energy conservation throughout the economic system. To reduce the financial pressure of the tax on consumers, especially the poor, tax revenues could be rebated to households. It has been attempted to design an equitable rebate scheme. A mathematical model was developed that approximates the reduction in a household's total energy consumption in response to higher energy prices and different rebate schemes. This model is based on the assumption that energy consumption is a function of a household's real income, prices of different commodities, and energy intensities. The amount of energy saved and the change in real expenditure of a household was calculated for four tax rates; 50%, 100%, 224% and 400%, and five rebate schemes; one regressive, two progressive, one income distribution preserving and the flat per-capita rebate. The results indicate that, for a given tax rate, the choice of rebate scheme does not significantly affect the amount of energy conserved by the households. However, the effectof different rebate schemes on a household's real expenditure could be dramatically different.
- OSTI ID:
- 5532403
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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