ABSTRACT

We study the distributional impacts of a water pollution tax in the Olifants river basin using a regional environmental computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The distributional impacts were evaluated considering both the household income and spending-side effects. We find that the water pollution tax is progressive on the income side as the poorest and vulnerable derive lower shares of their income from capital, which bears the biggest burden of the tax. However, the tax is regressive on the expenditure side due to the higher share of pollution-intensive goods in poor households’ expenditure. The net effect of the tax is, however, not pro-poor. Revenue recycling through a subsidy to pollution abatement sectors mitigates the adverse distributional impacts of the tax whereas uniform direct lump-sum transfers to households’ income reverse the adverse distributional impacts.

摘要

我们使用区域环境可计算一般均衡 (CGE) 模型研究了 Olifants 河流域水污染税的分配影响。对分配影响进行了评估，同时考虑了家庭收入和支出方面的影响。我们发现水污染税在收入方面是累进的，因为最贫困和弱势群体从资本中获得的收入份额较低，而​​资本承担了最大的税收负担。然而，由于污染密集型商品在贫困家庭支出中所占比例较高，因此在支出方面税收是累退的。然而，税收的净效应并不利于穷人。