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Why are carbon taxes unfair? Disentangling public perceptions of fairness
Department of Political Science, University of Oslo Postbox 1097, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
Department of Political Science, Center for Collective Action Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts, Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7646-1813
Department of Political Science, Laboratory of Opinion Research, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
2021 (English)In: Global Environmental Change, ISSN 0959-3780, E-ISSN 1872-9495, Vol. 70, article id 102356Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2021. Vol. 70, article id 102356
Keywords [en]
Carbon dioxide tax, Fairness, Justice, Public opinion
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-87025DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102356ISI: 000704267800006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85114162074OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-87025DiVA, id: diva2:1592785
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-05973
Note

Validerad;2021;Nivå 2;2021-09-09 (alebob);

Forskningsfinansiär: Collective Action Research and the Laboratory of Opinion Research at the University of Gothenburg

Available from: 2021-09-09 Created: 2021-09-09 Last updated: 2023-09-05Bibliographically approved

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