The National Association for Business Economics is having their policy conference in DC this week. You may have heard about results from the policy survey about the Fed and interest rates on NPR this morning. The survey also included questions of interest to environmental and resource types. Here is the summary of those results:
Should the federal government choose to increase revenues resulting from the CBO’s projected long-term deficits, 63% of panelists indicate that individual and/or corporate tax bases should be broadened. Enacting a broad-based energy or carbon tax or increasing Social Security and Medicare contributions have relatively less support (46% and 36% of panelists, respectively). A small percentage of panelists support a national sales or value-added tax (21%), an increase in individual income tax rates (17%), or an increase in the corporate income tax rate (13%). ...
President Obama recently proposed a $10 per barrel fee on imported crude oil to pay for annual transportation infra-structure investments. Over half (55%) of the panelists believe that this fee will be paid for primarily by consumers through higher gasoline prices. About 38% of respondents think the tax burden will be shared by both oil producers and consumers. Just 4% believe the tax burden will fall primarily on oil producers.
The survey offered a list of five possible results from the enactment of such an oil tax. (Respondents selected all the proposed effects they thought would occur.) A reduction in oil consumption was the most frequently cited outcome, with almost two-thirds (63%) of panelists believing that consumers will curb their oil consumption if the tax is approved. Just over half (54%) believe that the tax will encourage a shift to alternative forms of energy. Forty-four percent of panelists think that the proposal will “hamper economic growth” through reduced consumer spending, and 40% believe that the tax will “benefit domestic oil producers over offshore producers.” Only 18% of panelists think it will “impose a hardship on energy companies.”
