Why are carbon taxes unfair? Disentangling public perceptions of fairness

• Published in: Global environmental change Vol. 70; p. 102356
• Main Authors: Povitkina, Marina, Carlsson Jagers, Sverker, Matti, Simon, Martinsson, Johan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide tax; Environmental tax; Fairness; Justice; Perceptions; Political Science; Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies); Polls & surveys; Prices; Public opinion; Responses; Rural population; Rural populations; Rural poverty; Statsvetenskap; Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier); Taxation; Taxes; Voters; United States > US; Justice; Public opinion; Fairness; Carbon dioxide tax
• ISSN: 0959-3780; 1872-9495; 1872-9495
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102356

•We investigate what people mean when they regard carbon taxes as unfair.•We use structural topic modelling of open-ended survey responses in the US.•Most common topics relate to already high gas prices and lack of trust in government.•Other popular topics are the need to drive and concerns for poor and rural areas.•Findings pave the way for a more nuanced policy design to address fairness concerns.
In order to reach climate goals, governments need to gain support from their voters for the necessary policy interventions, such as carbon dioxide taxes. Previous research concludes that people often do not support and legitimize such taxes because they perceive them as unfair. However, the notion of fairness implies a multitude of factors and despite attempts of the previous research to further nuance people’s fairness perceptions, we currently lack a more precise understanding of what people mean when they regard carbon taxes as unfair. In this article, we thoroughly investigate this problem by using original survey data from YouGov collected in the United States in 2018 and analyzing open-ended survey responses on why people think carbon taxes are unfair. Applying structural topic modeling, we unpack the multi-dimensional meaning of unfairness, as perceived by the US population. The results from our analysis show that people regard carbon taxes based on gas pricing as unfair because they perceive gas prices already being high, because of the need to drive, unfairness for the poor or rural population, lack of trust in government, or considerations that the purpose of the tax is unjustified. These findings help provide a more nuanced policy design to address fairness concerns related to carbon taxes.