The distributional effects of a nitrogen tax: Evidence from Germany
研究了德国对氮排放征收特定外部成本税如何影响不同收入家庭，发现该税是累退的，但若税率等于真实成本，货币影响较小（最低收入组占收入1.15%，最高组0.66%），并讨论了配套措施以减轻低收入群体、农民和能源部门的负担。
The high level of nitrogen emissions over the last decades and their adverse impact on the natural environment and human health are a pressing environmental issue. A nitrogen tax can be a cost-efficient and effective policy instrument to reduce nitrogen emissions. However, adverse effects on low- and middle-income households might lead to societal and political frictions that could end up in resistance. In this paper we investigate how a hypothetical nitrogen tax covering the specific external costs of nitrogen could be implemented and estimate its short-term distributional effects on household income groups in Germany. The findings show that the proposed tax would be regressive. However, if the tax rate is set equal to the true cost of nitrogen, the monetary impacts would overall be small, ranging from 1.15% of income for the first income quintile to 0.66% for the fifth. Complementary policy measures to lower the burden on low-income households, farmers and the energy sector could preempt social resistance against the tax.