ABSTRACT

Addressing the high levels of poverty and inequality in South Africa remains a central policy concern. In this regard, this paper uses a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) microsimulation approach to revisit the effects of taxing water pollution on poverty and inequality at the level of a river basin. We combined the commodity and factor price changes from a regional environmental CGE model, after introducing the water pollution tax, with household survey data from the 2012 National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) to explain the welfare impacts. The result shows that the tax policy will in general have adverse impacts in terms of welfare, poverty, and inequality. However, the tax policy coupled with a supply-side compensatory measure such as subsidising water pollution abatement has the potential to reduce regional poverty and inequality as well as improve the ecological status of the river. Our finding has policy implications for national and regional water resource managers.

摘要

解决南非的高度贫困和不平等问题仍然是一个核心政策问题。在这方面，本文使用可计算一般均衡 (CGE) 微观模拟方法重新审视对水污染征税对流域层面的贫困和不平等的影响。在引入水污染税后，我们将区域环境 CGE 模型中的商品和要素价格变化与 2012 年全国收入动态调查 (NIDS) 的家庭调查数据相结合，以解释福利影响。结果表明，税收政策总体上会在福利、贫困和不平等方面产生不利影响。然而，税收政策与供应方补偿措施相结合，如补贴减少水污染的措施，有可能减少区域贫困和不平等，并改善河流的生态状况。我们的发现对国家和地区水资源管理者具有政策意义。