Law Commons^™

A State-Level Carbon Tax With Border Adjustments, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay develops three new doctrinal arguments in support of the conclusion that a state-level carbon tax with border adjustments should be permissible under the dormant commerce clause. This essay builds on our prior work to argue against the view that a single state cannot (practically) impose a significant carbon tax due to the claim that border tax adjustments are Constitutionally impermissible. By demonstrating how a state government could implement a carbon tax with border tax adjustments in a Constitutionally permissible fashion, this essay shows that levying a carbon tax is a realistic and practical option for U.S. state governments. …

Why A State-Level Carbon Tax Can Include Border Adjustments, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This is our third in a series of articles considering taxation and greenhouse gas mitigation. To date, all state-level attempts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by placing a price on carbon have involved cap-and-trade regimes. In our previous two articles, we considered how importing tax features into a cap and- trade regime could ease distributive concerns and also make cap-and-trade regimes more efficient.

Tax Cannibalization And Fiscal Federalism In The United States, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

We began this project pondering a riddle. Most state governments have adopted what we-and many others-view as clearly suboptimal tax policies, especially in regard to the taxation of corporate income and capital gains. Yet, with the notable exception of those who oppose progressivity and the taxation of capital, state-level tax policymakers have had remarkably little appetite for reform.

This Article provides one major explanation for this riddle by identifying and demonstrating a phenomenon that we label as "tax cannibalization." We argue that flawed state-level tax policies derive in part from perverse incentives inadvertently created by the federal government.