The French Tax on Air Pollution: Some Preliminary Results on its Effectiveness

Arbeitspapier

Empirical evidence evaluating the efficiency of economic instruments is still rare, despite significant theoretical advances over the last decades. The objective of this paper is to evaluate one form of environmental taxation, the French tax on air pollution from 1990-99. While starting out in 1985 as a tax levied only on emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2 ), the tax base was subsequently extended to encompass also emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and volatile organic compounds (VOC). The revenues of the French tax on air pollution were earmarked for abatement subsidies and the financing of air quality surveillance systems. Using a plant-level database, we find a negative, significant effect of the tax on emissions of SO2, NOx, and HCl. The abatement elasticity with regard to the tax is quite small, however.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Nota di Lavoro ; No. 44.2003

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Public Economics: General ; Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies ; Renewable Resources and Conservation: Water ; Renewable Resources and Conservation: Government Policy
• Subject: Environmental tax ; emissions regulation ; earmarking ; air quality ; Ökosteuer ; Luftverschmutzung ; Sondersteuer ; Frankreich

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Millock, Katrin ; Nauges, Céline
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)
• (where): Milano
• (when): 2003

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/118078
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET