Can Pollution Tax Rebates Protect Low-Income Families? the Effects of Relative Wage Rates

28 Pages Posted: 26 Apr 2010 Last revised: 17 Jul 2023

See all articles by Don Fullerton

Don Fullerton

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Holly Monti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: April 2010

Abstract

Pollution taxes are believed to burden low-income households that spend a greater than average share of income on pollution-intensive goods. Some propose to offset that effect by returning revenue to low-income workers via reduced labor tax. We build analytical general equilibrium models with both skilled and unskilled labor, and we solve for expressions that show the change in the real net wage of each group. A decomposition shows the effect of the tax rebate, the effect on the uses side of income (higher product prices), and the effect on the sources side of income (relative wage rates). We also include numerical examples. Even though the pollution tax injures both types of labor, we find that returning all of the revenue to the low-skilled workers is still not enough to offset the effect of higher product prices. Moreover, changing wage rates may further hurt low-skilled labor. In almost all of our examples, the rebate of all revenue to low-skilled labor still does not prevent a reduction in their overall real net wage.

Suggested Citation

Fullerton, Don and Monti, Holly, Can Pollution Tax Rebates Protect Low-Income Families? the Effects of Relative Wage Rates (April 2010). NBER Working Paper No. w15935, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1594569

Don Fullerton (Contact Author)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Department of Finance ( email )

1206 South Sixth Street
Champaign, IL 61820
United States
(217) 244-3621 (Phone)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Holly Monti

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

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