Research Essay on Carbon Tax Is Best Solution for Climate Change

Question: Discuss About Carbon Tax Is Best Solution for Climate Change? Answer: introducation: The research essay discusses that the imposition of carbon tax is best solution for the climate change. Carbon tax refers to a fee that is placed on the greenhouse gas pollution that arises mainly from the burning of fossil fuels. A monetary price is imposed on the emissions of green house gases that result in global warming. The research essay includes the environmental and economical issues relating to the carbon tax and the related arguments. Carbon dioxide has contributed to various environmental issues like global warming and many more. Green house gases are an example of negative externalities that have adverse effects on a global scale. Carbon tax is one of the carbon pricing strategies that imposes certain tax at a particular rate per ton of carbon dioxide emitted. Carbon tax is one of the carbon pricing strategies that imposes certain tax at a particular rate per ton of carbon dioxide emitted. According to Parry (2015), no government can guarantee and ensure that after the imposition of carbon tax, the carbon dioxide emissions shall fall down. Implementation of carbon tax shall have negligible impact on curbing the CO2 emissions. The major vehicles use fuel that release carbon emissions. These vehicles cannot be banned as they are being used since ages. The present vehicles that use petrol and diesel as fuel shall continue to emit carbon even if the carbon tax is imposed. Even the large-scale industries shall continue using fossil fuels in their manufacturing as a small amount of carbon tax shall not affect them. On the other hand, Hoberg Meadowcroft (2015) stated that with the rapid climatic changes and the increased acceptance of the carbon tax policy, arguments could be made that carbon tax must be implemented all over the world. Various scholars have argued that it is more important to focus on the Benefit Certainty as it emphasizes more on environment instead of the economics. For example, the government uses the revenue generated from carbon tax in setting-up solar plants, windmills and dams for generating hydro electricity (Vera Sauma, 2015). Nevertheless, although the imposition of carbon tax could result in some negative environmental effects but the additional taxes levied on the carbon emissions shall encourage the firms to develop other efficient alternatives for consuming the carbon emissions (Jenkins 2014). Even if the large-scale industries continue using fossil fuels, the small-scale industries shall be discouraged to use fossil fuels. The number of small-scale industries is more than the large-scale industries. Therefore, the impact would be large. For example, Imposition of carbon tax shall encourage development of solar power, hydrogen engines and other renewable resources (Keen Kotsogiannis, 2014). Next in terms of economy, the additional burden of the carbon tax might encourage the producers to shift to other countries where there are no or comparatively lower carbon taxes. This shall have an adverse impact upon the economy of a country. The administration cost of the tax might be quite expensive which reduces its efficiency. It is also very difficult to determine how much exactly the tax must be. The extra burden of carbon tax might adversely affect the poor underdeveloped or developing countries (Stone, 2015). Even if the government makes promises to cut down other taxes, still it would not be accepted readily. The political reality is that consumers always dislike addition of new taxes and do not believe that they shall be revenue neutral Geography. The imposition of carbon tax has adverse impact on the low-income group of consumers (Baranzini et al., 2015). Instead, the cap and trade policy can be more efficient in solving the problem of carbon emissions. In case of cap an d trade policy, the level of emission of green house gases in the atmosphere is predetermined. This cap may influence the firms to lower their emissions as they are not allowed to emit green house gases beyond the permitted level. On the other hand, Carl Fedor (2016) have stated that the imposition of carbon tax helps the government to raise revenues that can be used to develop the alternatives and to repair the environmental damages caused by the carbon emissions. For example, the revenue generated from the carbon tax imposition can allow the government to provide green electricity at subsidized rates. This shall encourage the use of renewable resources and reduce environmental damages. Various studies have examined the effect of carbon taxes on the green house gases emissions with the use of simulation methods. Thus, it can be summarized that uniform carbon tax rate would lead to considerable reduction in the green house gas emissions. Nevertheless, although the capping and trading policy seems to be more effective but the the carbon tax policy is more effective in long-run because in case of cap and trade policy, the government often tends to provide many pollution credits under the pressure of various heavy industries. It has also been stated by the Congressional Research Service that tax rebates shall help in successfully meeting the challenges associated with the imposition of carbon tax. One study has estimated that the tax rate shall rise to $144 billion per metric ton of carbon dioxide by 2020 (Cui, Song, 2017). Therefore, offsetting the reductions in the existing tax rates by using the carbon tax revenues can yield highest benefits to the overall economy. Another importance of carbon tax is that the use of this tax shall displace some tax on labor and capital that shall not only reduce the environmental pollution but also lead to sustainable economic growth. A report had shown that in Europe, carbon was be ing traded for less than 10 Euros a ton (Weitzman, 2014). This proves the inefficiency of the cap and trade policy. The carbon tax has the capability of raising sufficient revenues which the government can utilize in paying its debts as well as working for the development of the economy. The revenue generated encourages the government to develop the economy as a whole. Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that carbon tax is an effective policy to reduce the harmful impacts of the carbon emissions on the environment. The revenue generated from the carbon tax can help in repairing the damages caused to the environment (Murray, Pizer Reichert, 2016). Imposing taxes on the carbon emissions shall encourage the firms to either reduce the level of their carbon emissions or increase the use of renewable energy. The imposition of carbon tax discourages excessive consumption as they pay a social cost. Carbon pollution is considered as a negative externality. Due to the creation of negative externalities by a few industries that are carbon intensive, the social cost of production becomes greater than the private costs. The aim of imposing carbon tax is to convert the externalities into internalities. This would mean that the resulting price of the products shall be inclusive of external costs along with the private costs. This emphasizes on the fact that the perso n who causes the environmental costs shall be made to pay the entire social cost arising from his actions. However, the taxes arising from the taxation of carbon emissions should be used to reduce the burden of other taxes so that the revenue remains neutral. 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