Australia’s PM Takes on Carbon Tax
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot revealed a draft bill last week that would repeal the country’s controversial carbon tax. The current per-ton tax, introduced by previous PM Julia Gillard, began as a fixed-price emissions scheme that would switch to market trading in 2015. Abbot’s alternative plan, which pays companies that keep pollution below a set standard, is viewed by many as “a less efficient way of cutting emissions.”
Policymakers weighing a carbon tax can alternatively use the social cost of carbon (SCC) as a pricing basis, an option examined within the electricity sector by RFF’s Anthony Paul and Karen Palmer. Focusing on Interagency Working Group estimates for future SCC prices, they find that for a carbon tax set at the SCC mean estimates, the vast majority of electricity sector emissions reductions will come from reduced electricity demand and substitution of natural gas-fired generation for coal-fired generation. According to their research, non-emitting generation sources, such as renewables or nuclear, would achieve significant market penetration only with higher tax rates. The authors also note that SCC pricing offers “weaker long-run incentives for expanded renewable and nuclear generation” than a comparable cap-and-trade program.
Finding Funds for State Parks
National parks and the local economies surrounding them may have lost about $76 million per day during the shutdown, but their state counterparts enjoyed a generous uptick in admissions during the closure. Many state parks spent 16 days swamped by unusually large crowds of visitors, with some even requesting backup to help with the influx of tourists turned away from national forests, waters, and other affected landmarks.
Keeping these state parks fiscally sustainable has become an increasingly difficult challenge, notes RFF researcher Margaret Walls. In a recent Resources article and full report, Walls examines the efficacy of a range of revenue sources for state parks, including user fees, privatization, dedicated public funds, and private donations. Outdated practices and the recent recession, she says, mean that “a fresh approach to financing parks and open space” that goes beyond standard public funding is needed.
