What Is a Carbon Tax?

Carbon tax is a tax levied on carbon dioxide emissions. It aims to protect the environment and hopes to reduce global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon tax is to reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by taxing fossil fuel products such as gasoline, aviation fuel, and natural gas downstream of coal combustion and petroleum according to their carbon content. Unlike the greenhouse gas reduction mechanism based on market competition such as cap control and emissions trading, carbon tax collection can be achieved with very little additional management costs.

Carbon tax

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1.The main purpose of the carbon tax is to reduce

"Carbon tariffs" force industry green transformation

Globally, the green cycle and low-carbon development have become the trend. Many international industry associations have begun to implement carbon labeling of products. For example, when manufacturing clothing, they are required to mark the carbon emissions in the entire production chain on the final clothing product. This includes energy consumption in various production, processing, transportation, and sales links, and even the consumption of fertilizers used to grow cotton. The lower the carbon product, the more competitive the market.

According to Easy Carbon, some

The impact of carbon tax is wide-ranging and far-reaching, involving socio-economic and people's lives. The carbon tax should be levied not only on environmental effects and economic efficiency, but also on social benefits and international competitiveness. Different countries and regions have different implementation effects of carbon taxes at different stages of economic and social development. But in the long run, carbon tax is an effective environmental economic policy tool that can effectively reduce CO ₂ emissions. Reducing energy consumption, changing the structure of energy consumption, and restraining economic growth in the short term will be conducive to the healthy development of the economy. However, it will widen the income distribution gap between capital and labor and exacerbate social injustice.

1.Emission reduction effect

CO ₂ emission reduction rates under different tax rates

In 2010, the country

"Arrhenius Hypothesis" and "Kyoto Conference"

As early as the 1920s, French scientist Jean. Fouxier discovered the natural greenhouse effect and further demonstrated the importance of this effect on the survival of living things. He believed that the natural greenhouse effect was an important part of the balance of the earth's energy system. Until the 19th century, talented Swedish scientists

A carbon tax is a tax imposed on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. More specifically, a carbon tax is a tax levied on fossil fuels (such as coal, natural gas, gasoline, and diesel) based on their carbon content or carbon emissions, with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The energy tax generally refers to all taxes levied on various types of energy, including fuel taxes, fuel taxes, electricity taxes levied abroad, and refined oil consumption taxes levied by China.

In comparison, the carbon tax is

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

In 1990, the Ministerial Declaration of the Second World Climate Conference and the statement of the Scientific and Technological Conference advocated the development of a climate convention. In December 1990, the 45th United Nations General Assembly decided to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee on climate change. Since February 1991, after 15 months of five rounds of negotiations, the "

Carbon tax in south africa

Coal-dominated energy structure is an important reason for the serious air pollution that takes the city as the center, and 85% of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere comes from coal combustion. What can't be ignored is that the empirical data of world economic development shows that when the per capita GDP of a country or region is in the development stage of US $ 500 to US $ 3,000, it often corresponds to the period when the bottleneck constraints such as population, resources, and environment are most severe. China still belongs

Carbon tax tax purposes

1. The main purpose of the carbon tax is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon tax is levied on the amount of carbon emitted after the fossil fuels are burned. So in order to reduce expenses, public utilities, business organizations and individuals will work to reduce the use of energy generated by fossil fuels. Individuals may abandon their private cars, switch to public transportation, and use energy-saving lamps (CFLs) instead of incandescent lamps. Commercial organizations can improve energy efficiency by installing new installations or upgrading heating / cooling systems. Utility structures can use abandoned scrubbers, low-NOx burners, or gasification methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because a carbon tax sets a clear price for carbon emissions, high investments in energy efficiency can pay off.

(Picture) Carbon tax

2. The carbon tax makes alternative energy more cost-competitive compared with cheap fuels, and thus promotes the use of alternative energy. The imposition of a carbon tax on cheap fuels like coal raises their price per British thermal unit (Btu), thereby closing the gap between their price and clean energy. The British thermal unit is the standard unit of thermal energy measurement used in industry. One British thermal unit is the amount of heat required to raise one pound of pure water by one degree Fahrenheit.

3. Revenue from carbon taxes. This income can be used to fund environmental projects or tax deductions. Many supporters of the carbon tax see it as an advanced tax shift. It means that certain tax burdens in the United States will be shifted from federal income taxes and state sales taxes.

4. Economists favor carbon taxes because of their predictability. If the total amount control and trading scheme is adopted, the price of carbon will fluctuate according to changes in weather and economic environment. Because caps and trading schemes set explicit limits on carbon emissions, they do not set a clear price for carbon emissions. The price of carbon emissions in the carbon tax remains stable. Commercial organizations and public utilities can know the price of carbon emissions in advance and estimate how much carbon taxes they will pay. As a result, they can invest in alternative energy sources and improve energy efficiency based on the information they have. Another reason economists like carbon taxes is that they are easier to understand.

Carbon tax collection method

The carbon content of oil, coal and gas varies. Carbon tax advocates want to use carbon taxes to encourage the use of efficient fuels. If all types of fuel are levied the same tax by weight or volume, then one would not want to replace relatively polluting cheap fuels (such as coal) with relatively clean fuels (such as natural gas). In order to clearly reflect the carbon content, the calculation of the carbon tax should be based on British thermal units (a standardized, measurable unit) rather than unrelated units such as weight or volume. Each fuel has its own specific carbon content. For example, bituminous coal has a much higher carbon content than lignite. Residual fuel oil contains more carbon than gasoline. Each fuel requires a tax rate based on its caloric content calculated in British thermal units. Because the carbon content of fuels varies, the tax rate for certain fuels should be higher. Carbon Tax Center-A domestic group supporting the adoption of national carbon tax legislation in the United States has formulated the following theoretical tax rates. They determined the heat content of several major fuels based on the assumption that the tax for each ton of carbon (not carbon dioxide) emitted was $ 50, and calculated the fuel content per million British thermal units per British thermal unit Assumed price. The higher the price, the more pollution the fuel produces.

(Picture) Carbon tax

Lignite: $ 1.47

Per-bituminous coal: $ 1.45

Bituminous coal: $ 1.40

Residual fuel oil: $ 1.18

Crude oil: $ 1.12

Gasoline: $ 1.07

Natural gas: $ 0.80

Carbon taxes can be levied at different stages of production and consumption. Some tax objects are set at the top of the supply chain-in transactions between producers (such as coal miners and oil producers) and suppliers (such as coal shippers and refineries). Some taxes and fees affect distributorsoil companies and utilitieswhile others are charged directly to consumers through electricity bills. Different carbon tax schemes, whether actual or theoretical, have different choices about how they are collected.

In the United States, the only place where carbon taxes are levied is Boulder, Colorado. The city imposes a local carbon tax on all consumers, homeowners and business organizations. Residents of the city of Bold pay this cost based on their electricity consumption. It is officially stated that the amount of this tax is as follows: based on the electricity bill, an additional $ 16 per year is charged to private users and an additional $ 46 is charged to institutional users. Like Boulder in the United States, Sweden also levies this tax on the consumer side. Sweden s national carbon tax levies a full carbon tax on private users, halves it on industrial users, and exempts it from public utilities. Since more than half of Sweden's electricity consumption is used for heating, and all renewable energy sources (such as those generated by plants) are tax-free, the biofuel industry has flourished since 1991.

Canada's Quebec has also started taxing oil, natural and coal. The province will pay this tax to middlemenenergy and oil companies, not consumers. Although this tax is levied on high-end users in the supply chain, taxpayers can stilland likely pass on part of the cost to consumers by raising energy prices. It is much easier to tax in the consumption phase than in the production phase. Consumers are more willing to pay an additional $ 16 carbon tax per year, but producers are often reluctant to pay. Taxation at the production stage can have a devastating effect on the economy, as it makes domestic energy prices higher than imported energy prices. That's why the main target of the carbon tax is consumers, or, as in Quebec, Canada, energy companies and oil companies. In the United States and around the world, carbon tax policy has gone through a very bumpy course of development. In some Nordic countries, carbon taxes have been widely accepted-Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden have begun to implement different carbon tax policies.

Carbon tax