Revenue recycling of a CO2 tax: Results from a general equilibrium model for Switzerland

This paper combines a recent proposal by the Swiss government for a CO₂ tax with a policy that uses the tax revenues to lower the pre-existing marginal labor income tax rates, and examines the efficiency and distribution effects of such a revenue recycling policy. The investigation, based on a large-scale general equilibrium model, contrary to other studies, indicates that an environmental tax reform involves negative gross cost, that is, increases welfare even when environmental benefits are not accounted for. The simulation results further show that the adverse distributional effects of a pure CO₂ tax are neutralized or even reversed when tax revenues finance cuts of existing taxes.We thank Tom Rutherford, Reto Schleiniger and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Financial support by the Federal Agency for Energy under the SOEFF program is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions of the granting agency.