Law Commons^™

Carrots, Sticks, And Salience, Brian Galle

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article considers the second-best design of Pigouvian taxes and subsidies in the presence of agents who are imperfectly aware of the instrument. Until very recently, the price instrument literature has assumed perfect rationality, and even the handful of prior attempts to account for “hidden” prices focus mainly on the income tax. I extend these efforts in several directions. First, I show that the best available instrument for correcting negative externalities is often one whose price is partially adjusted upwards -- or, in the case of subsidies, downwards -- to counter-act the neglect of irrational actors. In addition, I argue …

Carbon Tax, Health Care Tax, Bank Tax, And Other Regulatory Taxes, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Book Chapters

The momentous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA) took sides in a long-running dispute about whether taxation can legitimately be used for purposes other than raising revenue for the government. The context was the imposition by Congress of a monetary penalty on individuals who refuse to buy health insurance. Opponents of the Act argued that calling this levy a tax added nothing to its constitutional validity since "the noncompliance penalty . .. does not meet the historical criteria for a tax" because "the clear purpose of …

Carbon Taxes And The Wto – A Carbon Charge Without Trade Concerns?, Keith A. Kendall

Keith A Kendall

The environmental impact of carbon emissions has received a significant amount of attention over recent years. As well as the environmental dimension, pollution has an inherent economic component. While most economists tend to favor a carbon tax as the preferred method to regulate carbon emissions, the legal literature, though, has not dedicated much attention to the alternatives available in this area. A loss of international competitiveness, though, is associated with any unilateral action that is designed to reduce carbon emissions, which is best resolved with a border tax adjustment (BTA). This paper canvasses the arguments in favor of a carbon …

At Issue: Energy Efficiency, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Relatively simple measures, such as switching to more efficient lightbulbs and insulating commercial buildings, hold great promise in efforts to combat climate change. So what's the holdup?

Climate Policy Coherence And Border Adjustment Regulation: Clarifying The Debate, Donald Feaver, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: A vigorous debate surrounding the use of border adjustments as trade-related policy mechanisms to compliment national climate change policies has intensified in recent times. The debate highlights how border adjustments are not particularly well suited to respond to trade related frictions arising because of the diversity of commitments being made by countries to reduce carbon emissions. While ideally, “the greater the degree of international agreement on climate change policies, the less potential friction there should be with trade policies” this more complex challenge of harmonizing national climate policies is unlikely to occur anytime soon. In the absence of a …

A Prediction Market For Climate Outcomes, Shi-Ling Hsu

Shi-Ling Hsu

This article proposes a way of introducing some organization and tractability in climate science, generating more widely credible evaluations of climate science, and imposing some discipline on the processing and interpretation of climate information. I propose a two-part policy instrument consisting of (1) a carbon tax that is indexed to a "basket" of climate outcomes, and (2) nested inside this carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system of emissions permits that can be redeemed in lieu of paying the carbon tax. The amount of the carbon tax in this proposal would be set each year on the basis of some objective, non-manipulable …

A Prediction Market For Climate Outcomes, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

This Article proposes a way of introducing some organization and tractability in climate science, generating more widely credible evaluations of climate science, and imposing some discipline on the processing and interpretation of climate information. I propose a two-part policy instrument consisting of (1) a carbon tax that is indexed to a “basket” of climate outcomes, and (2) a cap-and-trade system of emissions permits that can be redeemed in the future in lieu of paying the carbon tax. The amount of the carbon tax in this proposal (per ton of CO2) would be set each year on the basis of some …

Taxation As Regulation: Carbon Tax, Health Care Tax, Bank Tax And Other Regulatory Taxes, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This paper addresses three questions: 1. Is regulation a legitimate goal for taxation? 2. Which tax is best suited for regulation? 3. Would it be better to allocate just one goal per tax among the major taxes (individual and corporate income tax and VAT)? It then analyzes the proposed bank tax and the enacted health care tax as regulatory taxes, and concludes that the first is desirable (as is a carbon tax) but the second is not.

Because Parliament Can, Jim Corkery, Anthea Gerrard, Damien Lockie

Damien Lockie

Comment on the drafting of arbitrary taxation and the large variety of taxes levied in Australia at various levels of government. A carbon tax may be preferred to a 'cap and trade' emissions trading system.

Slides: The Peril Of Energy Usage, Mike Tupper

The Promise and Peril of Oil Shale Development (February 5)

Presenter: Mike Tupper, Executive Vice President, Composite Technology Development, Inc.

9 slides

Critique Of U.S. House Bill 2454 On Climate Change, Michael J. Waggoner

Publications

The U.S. House of Representatives, in June 2009, approved a bill to create a cap and trade system and a system of regulations and subsidies to address the problems of climate change. The U.S. Senate is now considering remedies for climate change. The approach of House Bill 2454 is ill-advised, and should be rejected by the Senate, because of the problems outlined below. I propose that these problems that would not be presented by a carbon tax, a simpler and more effective remedy for the risk of climate change.

Energy Policy For An Economic Downturn: A Proposed Petroleum Fuel Price Stabilization Plan, Thomas W. Merrill, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

A compelling case can be made for reducing America's consumption of petroleum fuels. Nearly all analysts think that the way to slash consumption of petroleum fuels is through an end-user tax. There is, however, widespread public opposition to higher gasoline taxes. Furthermore, in a recession the appropriate fiscal policy is to cut taxes, not to raise them. This paper proposes a method of stabilizing petroleum fuel prices at a sufficiently high level, without reducing aggregate consumer purchasing power. We introduce a revenue-neutral petroleum fuel price stabilization plan, called the "PFPS" plan for short Under this plan, a government surcharge on …

Enforcing Cap-And-Trade: A Tale Of Two Programs, Lesley K. Mcallister

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article uses the histories of the ARP and RECLAIM to show that even when monitoring and enforcement provisions for cap-and-trade programs are designed in a similar way, the resulting enforcement systems and enforcement outcomes may be very different. Part I of the Article tells the enforcement story of the ARP. It appears to be a story of regulatory efficiency and success. Part II tells the enforcement story of RECLAIM. While not a failure, RECLAIM enforcement seems to have been full of difficulties that necessitated large amounts of administrative time and resources. This part presents the results of an empirical …

Federal Greenhouse Gas Control Options From An Enforcement Perspective, Scott Schang, Teresa Chan

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

As part of the University of San Diego Law School’s Second Annual Climate and Energy Law Symposium, we decided to review the enforcement provisions of the main federal greenhouse gas control options, with a view to drawing lessons from that review that could inform policy choices and program design. Our review suggests that there are relative strengths and weaknesses, as well important tradeoffs to be made, in the enforcement provisions of each of the leading candidate programs. Our review further suggests that some revisions should be made to these provisions to help ensure that the greenhouse gas control programs meet …

Looking Back To Move Forward: Revisiting The Btu In Evaluating Current Policy Alternatives, Walter Wang

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

To evaluate the current policy alternatives, it is necessary to take a step back and revisit the Btu tax proposed by the Clinton Administration. Although seventeen years have passed since the Btu tax was proposed, and the U.S. is at war in theaters that are much different from those in which it was involved during the Clinton Administration, the landscape of the climate change debate has not changed dramatically. The lessons learned from the policies espoused by the Btu tax proposal may be critical in determining how to best approach climate change legislation today.

How To Love The One You're With: Changing Tax Policy To Fit Cap-And-Trade, Roberta Mann

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This paper will begin with an introduction of climate change issues, including a brief history of international mitigation efforts. The next section will give an overview of cap-and-trade systems and describe how a typical cap-and-trade system would interact with the current federal income tax system. The discussion of the interaction of cap-and-trade with the income tax will include both direct and indirect effects. This section will then compare those effects with the potential impact of a carbon tax. The direct impacts of cap-and-trade on the income tax system occur because the “trade” part of cap-and-trade creates a new financial instrument …

Because Parliament Can, Jim Corkery, Anthea Gerrard, Damien Lockie

Anthea Gerrard

Comment on the drafting of arbitrary taxation and the large variety of taxes levied in Australia at various levels of government. A carbon tax may be preferred to a 'cap and trade' emissions trading system.

Slides: Finding Flows: Fish Still Need Water Everyday, Melinda Kassen

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Melinda Kassen, Director of the Western Water Project, Trout Unlimited

12 slides

Slides: Groundwater Declines, Climate Change And Approaches To Adaptation, Katharine Jacobs

Western Water Law, Policy and Management: Ripples, Currents, and New Channels for Inquiry (Martz Summer Conference, June 3-5)

Presenter: Katharine Jacobs, Director of the Arizona Water Institute, University of Arizona

37 slides

Carbon Regulation And Its Impact On The Appalachian Basin: Why The Coal-Fired Energy Industry In Appalachia Should Embrace, Prepare For, And Help Shape A Comprehensive Legislative Scheme That Limits Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mark L. Belleville

Mark L. Belleville

The premise of this article – the coal-fired energy industry in Appalachia should embrace, prepare for, and help shape a comprehensive federal legislative scheme that limits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions – may sound counterintuitive. Why would an industry that emits greenhouse gases (GHGs) get on board with a national plan to limit GHG emissions? The reason is threefold. First, some form of regulation limiting emissions is inevitable. Second, in many respects, a comprehensive federal scheme is preferable to the current patchwork that exists. Finally, a comprehensive federal scheme can be tailored to be advantageous (or at least …

Combating Global Climate Change: Why A Carbon Tax Is A Better Response To Global Warming Than Cap And Trade, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

Global climate change is the most significant environmental issue facing our nation and the world. There no longer is any question that global warming is occurring. Nor is there any serious debate about whether human activity is the root cause. If we fail to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next ten to twenty years, we face the possibility of catastrophic environmental harm by the end of this century.

April 16, 2008: Global Warming And Carbon Taxes, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Global Warming and Carbon Taxes

Carbon Tax: Ready For Prime Time?, Michael J. Zimmer

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Why And How To Tax Carbon, Michael Waggoner

Publications

Increased concern about possible global warming due to rising levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide ("CO2") suggests the need to control emissions of CO2. This article explores a system of revenue-neutral carbon taxes as a supplement or alternative to other CO2 control systems such as subsidies, regulation, and cap-and-trade. A system of carbon taxation should be, the Article suggests, sufficiently fairer and simpler and more efficient than the other possible systems of CO2 control and that it merits serious consideration. Because the carbon tax that is suggested would be revenue neutral, it should be politically acceptable. Problems with …

Climate Justice: The Next Movement [Outline], Richard J. Lazarus

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Richard J. Lazarus, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

2 pages.

Waiting To Exhale?: Global Warming And Tax Policy, Roberta Mann

American University Law Review

This article explores the links between energy policy, tax policy and global warming. This article focuses on tax policy, because the emerging consensus among legal scholars favors economic incentives rather than command-and-control regulations for reaching environmental goals, and the Federal income tax has proved an effective delivery system for economic incentives.

After briefly discussing of the science of global warming and the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the article reviews the impact of both existing tax law and current proposals for energy legislation on global warming, as well as potential international law consequences of failure to act …