Environmentalism undercover: The environmental dimension of public support for domestic water charges

Abstract

Research shows that environmental attitudes can affect support for environmentallybeneficial policies. However, it is unclear whether environmental attitudes can influence support for such policies when they are not being primarily framed through an environmental lens. Using data from the 2011 Irish National Election Study, this paper examines the issue using the case of support for the reintroduction of water charges. This was a contentious issue with debate largely focusing on the proposal as an austerity measure, but the proposal also had environmental implications. The results find that while individuals' willingness to prioritise environmental protection over economic growth did not affect their support for water charges, their willingness to make individual sacrifices for the environment did. Moreover, voters' position on this policy impacted their vote choice. The findings are particularly important given the struggles that governments are facing in implementing environmental taxes and charges.

Does partisanship shape public support for suspending U.S. federal gas tax? A survey experiment

“…We find that lowincome respondents are more supportive of the suspension. Because gas taxes are regressive, this finding is consistent with the literature [37,38]. However, gender, age, and education are not statistically significant.…”

Empirical Research of Public Acceptance on Environmental Tax: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Although Rotaris and Danielis [60] and Fairbrother [52] found an affiliation between political ideology and public willingness to pay for a carbon tax in Italy and the UK, respectively, it seems that partisanship has little impact on public support. While Kenny [74] and Nastis and Mattas [34] do not find significant relationships between public support and political ideology in Ireland and Greece.…”

“…Location, income, gender, education, age, and energy dependency are the most tested demographic variables, and researchers found mixed results on their impact on environmental tax support. The majority of studies conclude that people are more likely to give support (e.g., [60,74,77]) and are willing to pay tax [64,75] when they have a higher income. Kotchen et al [69] show that a US$10,000 increase in a household annual income increases the likelihood of support by a 1% percentage point.…”

“…A carbon tax policy that includes health insurance and free college builds more support for African Americans and Hispanics than white [16]. While Birol and Das [77], Kenny [74], Migheli [80], and Thalmann [55] found populations with a higher number of households give less support for environmental taxes, Brown and Johnstone [51] and Kotchen et al [69] show no relationship between the variables. Birol and Das [77] and Kenny [74] found contradictory results between employability and public acceptability for wastewater charges, with the former show a significant relationship.…”

Public Acceptance of Carbon Tax Implementation: A Nationwide Empirical Study in Malaysia

“…The majority of research consistently found a positive and statistically significant relationship between income levels and support for environmental tax policies, indicating that those with greater incomes are more likely to support such measures (Birol & Das 2010;Kenny 2019;Rotaris & Danielis 2019). For instance, Kotchen et al (2017) discovered that the probability of support for a carbon tax increased by 1percent per US$10,000 increase in household income.…”