The Economic impact of different carbon tax revenue recycling schemes in China: A model-based scenario analysis

• Three alternative carbon tax revenue recycling schemes are analyzed and compared.
• Deducting consumption tax gives the highest absolute emissions cut.
• Deducting production tax has largely relieves the total and average mitigation cost.
• Different schemes also have different effects on industry level and time dynamics.

As an important policy instrument for climate mitigation, the carbon tax policy design and its consequent social-economic impact calls for more research. In this paper, a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model – CASIPM-GE model is applied to explore the impact of a carbon tax and different tax revenue recycling schemes on China’s economy. Simulation results show that the carbon tax is effective to reduce carbon emissions with mild impact on China’s macro economy. In particular, a production tax deduction can be used to recycle the carbon tax revenue if the government wants to reduce the cost of a carbon tax; however, a consumption tax deduction may help the economy to restructure and may benefit the long-run emissions reduction. In terms of industrial output, most industries are negatively affected; sectors with large share of exports are subjected to negative shocks if there is consumption tax deduction financed by the carbon tax revenue. The study suggests that carbon revenue recycling scheme is important in designing the carbon tax policy: a well-designed scheme can help reduce the cost of a carbon tax.