Inequalities in the Impact of the Carbon Tax in Japan

Although Japan’s current carbon tax rate is much lower than the rates applied in European countries, the Japanese government may increase the tax rate in the near future, in order to strengthen measures to combat global warming. Since a country’s carbon-pricing policy does not distort its economy, it is considered to be an efficient policy measure. However, the burden of carbon pricing varies across regions and across households. Since low-income households generally allocate a larger proportion of their disposable income to energy costs than high-income households, the burden of carbon taxes on low-income households tends to be higher than for high-income households. In addition, households in cold regions spend more money for space heating, and those in rural areas spend more money for gasoline. Unless the government objectively analyzes the impact of carbon pricing and proposes convincing countermeasures to deal with these unequal impacts, the government is unlikely to obtain public support for a carbon tax increase. In this study, we analyze microlevel data from the Japanese National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFE) collected from 1989 to 2014, and examine how past energy price changes affected the welfare of different types of households. We then propose countermeasures to address the problems arising from the regressive nature of taxing energy use.