Btu Tax Research Articles

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The role of hydrogen in the road transportation sector for a sustainable energy system: A case study of Korea

This study analyzes the impact of the introduction of hydrogen as fuel in the road transportation sector of Korea. Since this sector is completely dependent on petroleum and alternative technologies such as fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen is one alternative fuel that could meet the challenges that Korea is facing due to rising oil prices. This study uses a scenarios-based energy economic model including the hydrogen path way as a sub-energy system to explore the energy system of Korea through 2044. This study also constructs six scenarios consisting of three government policies concerning carbon dioxide reduction and two oil price scenarios in order to assess the impact on hydrogen as fuel in the road transportation sector. The results of this study show that in a particular case (high Btu tax and oil prices) the share of hydrogen would reach 76% of the road transportation sector, and hydrogen would be produced mainly from renewable and nuclear resources via electrolysis facilities. It is also revealed that hydrogen is effective at reducing carbon dioxide, improving energy efficiency and contributing to the energy security of Korea.

Energy modeling on cleaner vehicles for reducing CO 2 emissions in Japan

This study is to evaluate the impact of cleaner vehicles on energy systems and CO 2 emissions in the transportation sector in Japan. The transportation sector has the characteristic of spending petroleum. Even when the cost of petroleum rises, conventional vehicles cannot switch fuels to alternative energy right away. Cleaner vehicles, such as fuel cell vehicles, would be one of the alternative technologies in the transportation sector. It is supposed to have excellent performance in fuel efficiency and has strong possibility to reduce CO 2 drastically. This paper uses a multi-period market equilibrium model to explore the impacts of cleaner vehicles on the passenger transportation sector in Japanese energy system out to the year 2040. A Btu tax is tentatively imposed to evaluate the effect of fuel cost on energy consumption in the transportation sector. Financial parameters such as capital cost and operating cost are considered to summarize the profit in taxation case. The result of this study shows that fuel cell vehicles have a great effect on reducing CO 2 emissions especially when Btu taxes are imposed, which in turn has the advantage of encouraging a more diverse set of technologies and fuels. The analysis that petroleum consumption can be reduced using fuel cell vehicles will have effects on perspectives on energy systems in Japan.

The Back-door Btu Tax

La taxe Btu qui a ete repoussee aux Etats Unis, en 1993 et qui devait permettre de taxer le charbon, le petrole, le gaz naturel, l'energie nucleaire et l'hydro-electricite en fonction de leur capacite calorifique reapparait actuellement sous une autre forme les normes de portefeuille d'energies renouvelables qui va forcer les producteurs d'electricite a integrer un pourcentage minimal d'energies renouvelables dans leur production et les vendeurs a vendre un quota d'electricite provenant des energies renouvelables (hors hydro-electricite).

COSTS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY MOTIVATED TAXES IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHER TAXES: GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSES

There has been keen interest in recent years in environmentally motivated or 'green' tax reforms. This paper employs analytical and numerical general equilibrium models to investigate the costs of such reforms, concentrating on the question of whether these costs can be eliminated when revenues from new environmental taxes are devoted to cuts in marginal income tax rates. A distinguishing feature of the analytical model is its attention to the role of pre-existing inefficiencies in the tax treatment of labor and capital and the associated role of tax-shifting. This model indicates how the prospects for a zero- or negative-cost environmental tax reform are enhanced to the extent that environmental tax reforms shift the tax burden toward the less efficient (undertaxed) factor. Results from the numerical model are interpreted in light of the analytical model's findings. These results indicate that the revenue- neutral substitution of Btu or gasoline taxes for typical income taxes usually entails positive gross costs to the economy. In the case of the gasoline tax, a significant tax shifting effect serves to lower the policy's gross costs. This accounts for the lower gross cost of the gasoline tax compared with the Btu tax. Under neither policy is tax-shifting substantial enough to eliminate the overall gross costs.

Borneo Log: The Struggle for Sarawak’s Forests by William W. Bevis

174 Western American Literature Popular history can go beyond im ages and entertaining stories. After read­ ing The Am erican West, I had a hankering for some straight DeVoto and Stegner, chased with Limerick. KEVIN HOLDSWORTH Salt Lake City, Utah When Coyote Howls: A Lavaland Fable. By Robert Gish. (Albuquerque: University of New M exico Press, 1994. 138 pages, $22.95.) As unbelievable and unnatural as it may seem, Coyote has lost his howl. Coyote the trickster, the prankster, the hero, the fool finds him self at a disad­ vantage, and he w ill need to gain the trust and aid of those very characters who in the past might have suffered the result of C oyote’s pranks or worse— his car­ nivorous appetite. When Coyote com es to Raven for help, Raven deliberates cautiously as he exam ines C oyote’s sincerity: “Pardon me in hesitating, but you know what they say about you. Que Vato! Coyote, Huehue hijito! I fear you are up to no good. Fear you are fooling. Are you, in your tendencies toward m is­ chief and misadventure, really telling me the truth?” Finally convinced, Raven advises Coyote that he must take a perilous journey to Lavaland where he w ill ask Moon to return his voice. U sing the same wit and cunning previously used for m ischief, Coyote must convince everyone he meets of his sincerity in this quest. C oyote’s community recognizes that like all of the intricate parts of their world, they need C oyote’s howl as much as he does. Robert G ish’s humorous frolic through Lavaland explores the character and myths of Coyote, but most importantly reveals the critical value of having all elem ents of nature— including humans— in balance. BARBARA TRACY LANGDON Southeast Community College, N ebraska Borneo Log: The Struggle fo r Saraw ak’ s Forests. By W illiam W. B evis. (Seattle: University of W ashington Press, 1995. 264 pages, $19.95.) “A t the expense o f the many . . . ” It’s im possible to step back into history, relive the past, and attempt to undo our mistakes. But, surprisingly, “colonialism is not dead” and we can examine its consequences in our world today. There’s plenty in W illiam B evis’s Borneo Log to ponder, although logging softwood rainforests to make dispos­ able plyw ood for Japan’s rapacious building boom is the topic of this unsettling volum e. Just like the natives of the Canadian and American West, the Baram peo­ ple stood in the path of the surveyor, blocking progress. Bulldozers came any­ Reviews 175 how. A culture fell as chain saws toppled trees. Government officials in distant capitals accepted payment as life ended in the forests where life itself began. Leave your office for a walk in a city park and your perspective on life changes: leave your country, continent, hemisphere, language, and culture behind and you experience another place and time. B evis took a walk far from comfort. His notes are not a travelogue: they inform us of the intimate history, geography, politics, econom ics, and racism of colonialism — Japanese and C hinese, of course, but also British and American. Its facelessness fascinates because it destroys without breaking international law. But the law of nature cannot forever be broken. How many North American children wandering in a forest can find north with their eyes closed? The moss growing on the shady side of the tree is a reliable compass, but we teach civi­ lized children little of the natural order. B evis’s update to his Borneo walkabout states that protests have forced the logging to leave clear-cut Borneo, to move on to Papua New Guinea. Only the last few lines suggest solutions. Land use policies seem sensi­ ble— to us. Perhaps a BTU tax w ill reorient our wallets. But his suggested attempts to pressure Japan to change its attitudes are merely colonialism in another guise. Perhaps, when there are no more undeveloped countries with natural resources for the civilized world to pillage, we may reconsider our ways. It may be too late. DAVID FINCH Athabasca University, A lberta Our N atural...

An energy Btu tax alternative

This paper extends the Ramsey tax rule and develops a tax rate by minimizing total excess burden, subject to government tax revenues. This tax rate is a function of its own and other fuel's price elasticities of compensated demand and supply, its own price and consumption level, other fuels' prices and consumption levels, and government revenues. It is this proposed tax rate, not the Ramsey tax ratio, that guides a government to levy a tax efficiently through a minimization of total excess burden. In the case of an energy tax, this tax rate provides direct guidance for taxation on various fuels. Moreover, total excess burden generated by the proposed tax rate is significantly less than that produced by the Clinton Administration's proposal.

Environmental taxation for environmental regulation and fiscal policy: An analysis of a Clinton-type BTU tax

This paper provides an empirical study of energy taxes for achieving environmental and fiscal policy objectives. Based on an energy tax structured like Clinton's 1993 BTU tax proposal, we demonstrate that the optimal tax will be higher the greater the environmental costs associated with energy consumption and the larger the economic distortions associated with alternative revenue-raising policies. Greater environmental damages and higher revenue-raising costs also have a fiscal policy implication; they shift the least-cost tax mix for raising additional revenue toward energy taxes and away from conventional tax alternatives.

The BTU Tax Experience: What Happened and Why It Happened

The BTU Tax Experience: What Happened and Why It Happened

Who Pays Broad-Based Energy Taxes? Computing Lifetime and Regional Incidence*

This paper measures the incidence of energy taxes using a lifetime framework to study both a Btu tax and a carbon tax. It takes into account two key facts. First, because energy taxes have different incidence effects across the life cycle, it is important to measure the burden of taxes in terms of lifetime incidence, not just their burden in a given year. To take account of lifetime incidence, we introduce an estimation methodology for lifetime-correction as well as showing current consumption measures. Second, energy taxes have a total effect that combines both direct and indirect effects: in addition to directly increasing the price of energy goods, energy taxes also indirectly increase the price of all other goods in proportion to the energy used to produce them. We provide incidence estimates by income group and by geographical region.

The effects of a broad based energy tax on the United States economy

This paper investigates the effects of a broad based energy tax on the United States economy in general and the agricultural sectors in particular. The analytical approach used in the analysis consists of a general equilibrium model composed of fourteen producing sectors, fourteen consuming sectors, six household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of imposing a tax on natural gas, coal, and nuclear power of 25.7 cents per million Btu's and a tax on refined petroleum products of 59.9 cents per million Btu's on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, a Btu tax on energy imposed at the point of production will result in lower output by the producing sectors (by about $122.4 billion US), a decrease in the consumption of goods and services (by about $64.6 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $66.6 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of about $50.5 billion. In the case of the Btu tax being imposed at the point of consumption, there will be lower output by the producing sectors (by about $83.7 billion), a reduction in the consumption of goods and services (by about $48.3 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $49.5 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of $41.5 billion. The agricultural sectors would be measurably impacted. For example, if the Btu tax is imposed at the point of production, output in the program crops sector will fall (by $637 million), output in the livestock sector will decline (by $257 million), output in the all other agriculture commodities sector will be reduced (by $54 million), and output in the forestry sector will rise (by $144 million). If the Btu tax is imposed at the point of consumption, output in the program crops sector will fall (by $720 million), output in the livestock sector will decline (by $453 million), output in the all other agriculture commodities sector will be reduced (by $371 million), and output in the forestry sector will rise (by $25 million). Finally, when subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution elasticities.

An analysis of the proposed Btu tax on the us economy

This paper examines the impacts of a Btu tax on energy on the United States economy. The analytical approach used in the analysis consisted of a general equilibrium model composed of fourteen producing sectors, fourteen consuming sectors, six household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of imposing a tax on natural gas, coal, and nuclear power of 25.7 cents per million Btu and a tax on refined petroleum products of 59.9 cents per million Btu on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, a Btu tax on energy imposed at the point of production will result in lower output by the producing sectors (by about $122.4 billion), a decrease in the consumption of goods and services (by about $64.6 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $66.6 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of about $50.5 billion. In the case of the Btu tax being imposed at the point of consumption, there will be lower output by the producing sectors (by about $83.7 billion), a reduction in the consumption of goods and services (by about $48.3 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $49.5 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of $41.3 billion. Finally, when subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution elasticities.

Reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions: an assessment of different instruments

The possibility that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use might lead to global warming has become a leading environmental concern. Many scientific and environmental organizations have called for immediate action to limit carbon dioxide production. For the most part, however, public debate has focused on a single policy instrument: a carbon tax applied to fossil fuels in proportion to their carbon content. We present a detailed model of the U.S. economy and use it to compare carbon taxes with two other instruments that could achieve the same reduction in carbon dioxide emissions: a tax on the energy content of fossil fuels (a BTU tax) and an ad valorem tax on fuel use. We find that carbon taxes can achieve a given reduction with the least overall effect on the economy, but with a large effect on coal mining. Energy taxes are fairly similar to carbon taxes but have slightly less impact on coal mining and slightly greater overall cost. In contrast, ad valorem taxes fall much more lightly on coal mining but have a much greater effect on the economy as a whole.

Congress focuses on deficit reduction plan

As Congress returned last week from its Fourth of July recess, the first order of business was reconciling House and Senate versions of President Bill Clinton's five-year, $500 billion deficit reduction plan. Both bills, over five years, would raise about $250 billion in new revenues for the federal government, while cutting back mandatory federal spending by some $90 million. The rest of the reduction, $160 billion, is to come from cuts made during the annual appropriation process. The devil is in the details. The biggest sticking point is a new energy tax. Clinton proposed a broad-based energy tax to be phased in over three years, indexed to the heat content (measured in British thermal units) of fuels—a Btu tax. The House basically accepted that plan, but phased it in over five years. The tax would raise about $71.5 billion. Petrochemical feedstocks were exempted from the tax, but since the chemical industry is energy-intensive, it's estimated ...

CMA says energy tax will cut jobs, increase costs

The chemical industry, it goes without saying, is a big user of petroleum and natural gas, both as feedstocks and as energy sources. It also uses a lot of electricity. Thus, it seems natural the industry should oppose President Bill Clinton's proposed Btu tax—a tax on the heat value of energy-related products consumed. Leading the charge is the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA)—the Washington, D.C.-based trade organization of the chemical industry. In a report released last month, CMA says the proposed tax would increase costs, leading to inflation; cut jobs; and make the chemical industry less competitive in the international marketplace. Instead of the Btu tax, CMA says it would rather have a value-added tax, which would tax consumption rather than manufacturing. In a statement to the House Ways & Means Committee, based on the industry group's report, J. Roger Hirl, president and chief executive officer of Occidental Chemical and chairman of CMA's executive committee, said, ...

Btu tax as a revenue option: Its impact on agriculture in the USA

The paper investigates the impact of the imposition of a broadly based energy tax on the US economy in general and the agricultural sectors in particular. The analytical approach used in the analysis consisted of a general equilibrium model composed of 12 producing sectors, 13 consuming sectors, six household categories, classified by income, and the government. The effects of a 10 cents per million Btu tax on energy on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, a 10 cents per million Btu tax on energy imposed at the point of production would result in lower output by the producing sectors (by about $9.154 billion), an increase in the consumption of goods and services (by about $20.292 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $4.30 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of about $6.356 billion. If the Btu tax were imposed at the point of consumption, there would be lower output by the producing sectors (by about $5.88 billion), an expansion in the consumption of goods and services (by about $19.830 billion), and a reduction in welfare (by about $7.066 billion). The government would realize an increase in revenue of $6.688 billion. The agricultural sectors would be minimally impacted. For example, if a 10 cents per million Btu tax were imposed at the point of production, output in the program crops sector would rise (by $8.3 million), output in the livestock sector would decline (by $83 million), output in the all-other-agriculture-commodities sector would be reduced (by $118 million), and output in the forestry sector would rise (by $34.7 million). If the Btu tax were imposed at the point of consumption, output in the program crops sector would fall (by $38 million), output in the livestock sector would decline (by $42 million), output in the all other agriculture commodities sector would be reduced (by $94 million), and output in the forestry sector would rise (by $221 million).

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 My Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 My Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 May Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 May Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 May Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax

Energy Policy: Independence by 1985 May Be Unreachable Without Btu Tax