33: How Utahns Could Support a Tax on Carbon Emissions

Episode Intro:A couple years ago, a Utah statewide ballot initiative called Clean the Darn Air was proposed to tackle the persistent air pollution which Wasatch Front residents deal with every year.  The proposal was to tax the things that cause the pollution -- the carbon emissions – by levying a 10 cents per gallon tax on gasoline purchases and a penny per kilowatt for electricity.  From this tax, Utah residents could eliminate an unpopular state sales tax on grocery store food, while also paying for various efforts to clean up the air.Well, before the 2024 election cycle the initiative did not pass. The organizers did not gather the needed number of signatures.  But the effort did yield a lot of information about how Utah voters, both Democrats and Republicans, feel about such big proposals to address air pollution and climate change, and it showed what kinds of issues – if packaged with the right balance – a majority of Utah voters could actually support.I spoke recently with Katelyn Tenney, a PhD student at the University of Wyoming, and Therese Cavlovic, Professor of Economics at Weber State University, who together published a study which examines how Utahns value different ways of spending carbon tax revenues, and the kinds of policies that might actually gain broad political appeal in the state.Interview Summary:Katelyn Tenney, a PhD student at the University of Wyoming, and Therese Cavlovic, Professor of Economics at Weber State University, talk about their Utah-focused study on carbon tax design using a discrete choice experiment to test how residents value different ways of spending carbon tax revenues. Findings show strong, bipartisan support for revenue uses that offset regressive impacts—especially eliminating the grocery sales tax—and meaningful support for environmental earmarks, with Democrats prioritizing clean-air benefits. The researchers emphasize that market-based, locally controlled carbon pricing paired with fair, transparent revenue uses could gain broad political appeal in Utah.Episode webpage:wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/33-how-utahns-could-support-a-tax-on-carbon-emissions/