Fueling opposition? Yellow vests, urban elites, and fuel taxation

Tatham, Michaël; Peters, Yvette

doi:10.1080/13501763.2022.2148172

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Our results thus point to a generalized cognitive mechanism shaping policy support, in line with the mental accounting heuristic. Importantly, this finding is compatible with variations in earmarking preferences, for instance between different socio-demographic groups [24]. The mental accounting heuristic does not imply that citizens always prefer green earmarking of carbon tax revenue to any other earmarking scheme.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…Focus groups conducted among French citizens suggest that earmarking energy tax revenues for environmental purposes is seen as the most acceptable solution for almost all participants, whereas using tax revenues to reduce the VAT or labor taxes is perceived negatively in most groups [21]. Moreover, several quantitative studies showed that policy support is significantly higher when carbon tax revenues are earmarked for environmental purposes rather than redistributed to households [16,22,23], although these earmarking preferences can vary across socio-demographic groups [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing an acceptable and fair carbon tax: The role of mental accounting

Mus,

Mercier,

Chevallier

2023

PLOS Clim

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Despite its potential for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, carbon taxation encounters strong public resistance. However, acceptability depends on how tax revenues are used. We test the hypothesis that mental accounting theory can both explain systematic patterns in citizens’ preferences, such as the support for environmental earmarking, and help design a carbon tax scheme that is both acceptable and fair. Across six experiments conducted in the United Kingdom and in France (Ntotal = 7100), we show that: (a) There is an acceptability boost when the use of tax revenues matches the tax domain thematically (e.g., allocating carbon tax revenues to green projects), as demonstrated by an interaction effect between the tax domain and the expenditure domain on the level of tax support. This result is consistent with the use of a mental accounting heuristic, by which people create mental budgets where the origin of revenues is matched thematically with their domain of use. (b) Carbon tax acceptability varies with the proportion of tax revenues earmarked for green projects. (c) A mixed carbon tax scheme, in which most revenues are earmarked for green projects and the rest is redistributed to low-income households to be spent on sustainable expenses, receives most support among the tested options. We also demonstrate the robustness of the mental accounting heuristic in two ways: by showing that the preference for environmental earmarking of carbon taxes is observed across all relevant subsections of the population, and that mental accounting also appears to shape preferences for health-related earmarking of tobacco taxes, and social-related earmarking of inheritance taxes.

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing an acceptable and fair carbon tax: The role of mental accounting

Mus,

Mercier,

Chevallier

2023

PLOS Clim

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This very direct measure of self-interest related to the tax seems to crowd out any other socioeconomic effects. However, in the cases where such measure of usage and self-interest is not included, then I do find that education and income do matter for attitudes (Hedegaard, 2022;Tatham & Peters, 2023).…”

Section: Socioeconomic Positionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…In the French context, Douenne and Fabre (2020) also find strong opposition to a carbon tax on gasoline and diesel and note that there are variations in this between urban and rural areas (for more on the rural-urban divide see Arndt et al, 2022). Building on that, Tatham and Peters (2023) compare attitudes to indirect carbon taxes on gasoline in Norway, especially focusing on the differences between urban elites and rural low-income groups (inspired by the Yellow Vests movement in France). They find that this geographic and socioeconomic divide also exists in Norway, but also that it can be bridged through revenue recycling.…”

Section: Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for Indirect Carbon Taxes: Danes' Attitudes toward Indirect Carbon Taxes on Aviation, Beef, Clothing, Electronics, Fuel, Heating, and Milk

Hedegaard

2023

Preprint

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The pursuit of climate-friendly economies has driven the implementation of carbon taxes as a central political strategy. The existing literature on attitudes to carbon taxes predominantly focuses on carbon taxes, such as general carbon taxes or emissions trading systems. This focus is puzzling, considering that indirect carbon taxes on specific products and services remain more prevalent than their direct counterparts. This article aims to address this research gap by examining Danes' attitudes toward eight different types of indirect carbon taxes. The findings reveal that Danes exhibit strong resistance towards indirect carbon taxes on everyday products such as milk, heating, and electricity. Furthermore, there is mixed support for indirect carbon taxes on beef, consumer electronics, and fuel. Only aviation garners overall support within the population. The article also shows that support for indirect carbon taxes is best explained by perceptions of whether climate change is an important issue.

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“…Thus, green taxes are an exemplary case study of what Jacobs (2016) described as "intertemporal trade-offs between maximizing social welfare in the present and investing in the future" (p. 434). In addition, green taxes are often regressive, particularly in high-income countries (Kallbekken and Saeaelen 2011;Baranzini and Carattini 2017), leading to concerns about unjust distributional effects (Cullenward and Victor 2020) and potential political backlash (Tatham and Peters 2023).…”

Section: Green Tax Design and The Role Of Compensationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Information, Compensation, and Party Cues Increase Mass Support for Green Taxes?

Bürgisser,

Stadelmann-Steffen,

Armingeon

2024

Preprint

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The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy presents a major challenge, with green taxes often seen as an efficient policy to promote environmentally friendly behavior. However, these taxes are difficult to implement due to public concerns about immediate costs versus future environmental benefits. To address this, we conducted a survey experiment in Switzerland to investigate whether information on green tax efficacy, compensation through revenue recycling, and party cues can increase support for green taxes. Our findings indicate that information about compensation mechanisms and party cues can enhance support for green taxes, while single instances of information on tax efficacy do not significantly affect beliefs or policy support. Support increases when compensation strategies address climate change or mitigate social risks and when there is broad party consensus providing clear cues to citizens. However, our findings also underscore the potential trade-off associated with a broad coalition of parties supporting green tax reform, which may lead to diminished support from the left. These insights have important implications for the design and communication of green taxes, highlighting the role of informed beliefs and political signals in shaping public attitudes toward environmental policies.

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Fueling opposition? Yellow vests, urban elites, and fuel taxation

Abstract: OSM-3. Yellow Vests and Urban Elites.

Cited by 14 publications

References 55 publications

Designing an acceptable and fair carbon tax: The role of mental accounting

Designing an acceptable and fair carbon tax: The role of mental accounting

Support for Indirect Carbon Taxes: Danes' Attitudes toward Indirect Carbon Taxes on Aviation, Beef, Clothing, Electronics, Fuel, Heating, and Milk

Can Information, Compensation, and Party Cues Increase Mass Support for Green Taxes?

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