College of Management, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China.
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Nov 19;16(22):4574. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16224574.
: Environmental tax has been implemented by the government in response to the demands of the residents to control environmental pollution. However, a tax has a wide effect on many interacting aspects of the society. It remains unknown whether enacting an environmental tax for the government can improve the residents' happiness. This study aimed to examine the impact of air and water pollution on residents' happiness and evaluate whether an environmental tax can alleviate the impact of air and water pollution on residents' happiness. : Based on the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey Data, 28 provinces in China were divided into two categories according to their environmental tax rates: baseline-tax areas ( = 13) and high-tax areas ( = 15). The ordered probit model was used to analyze the impact of air and water pollution on the residents' happiness in baseline-tax areas and high-tax areas, respectively. The Chow Test was used to test whether the impact of environmental pollution on happiness was different between baseline-tax areas and high-tax areas. The impact of air pollution on residents' happiness was statistically significant in the baseline-tax areas (coefficient -0.162, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.239, -0.086, < 0.001), but the significance was weakened in the high-tax areas (coefficient -0.030, 95% CI -0.060, 0.000, = 0.051). The Chow Test showed that the absolute value of the regression coefficient in the baseline-tax areas was significantly higher than the value in the high-tax areas (F = 12.712, < 0.001). Similarly, the impact of water pollution on residents' happiness was statistically significant (coefficient -0.264, 95% CI -0.353, -0.174, < 0.001) in the baseline-tax areas and in the high-tax areas (coefficient -0.063, 95% CI -0.091, -0.035, < 0.001), but the Chow Test showed that the absolute value of the regression coefficient in the baseline-tax areas was significantly higher than the value in the high-tax areas (F = 13.758, < 0.001). : Both air and water pollution impair residents' happiness. The present study shows for the first time that enacting an environmental tax significantly alleviates the negative effect of air and water pollution on residents' happiness. The findings of the present study provide empirical evidence for the government to levy environmental tax.
: 政府为了满足居民控制环境污染的要求，已经实施了环境税。然而，税收对社会的许多相互作用的方面都有广泛的影响。对于政府来说，征收环境税是否能提高居民的幸福感还不得而知。本研究旨在检验空气污染和水污染对居民幸福感的影响，并评估环境税是否可以减轻空气污染和水污染对居民幸福感的影响。: 本研究基于 2015 年中国综合社会调查数据，根据环境税率将中国 28 个省份分为两类：基准税地区（ = 13）和高税地区（ = 15）。分别采用有序概率模型分析了基准税地区和高税地区的空气污染和水污染对居民幸福感的影响。采用 Chow 检验来检验空气污染和水污染对幸福感的影响在基准税地区和高税地区是否存在差异。结果表明，在基准税地区，空气污染对居民幸福感的影响具有统计学意义（系数-0.162，95%置信区间（CI）-0.239，-0.086， < 0.001），但在高税地区的显著性减弱（系数-0.030，95%CI-0.060，0.000， = 0.051）。Chow 检验显示，基准税地区的回归系数绝对值明显高于高税地区（F = 12.712， < 0.001）。同样，在基准税地区和高税地区，水污染对居民幸福感的影响均具有统计学意义（系数-0.264，95%CI-0.353，-0.174， < 0.001），但 Chow 检验显示，基准税地区的回归系数绝对值明显高于高税地区（F = 13.758， < 0.001）。: 空气污染和水污染都会损害居民的幸福感。本研究首次表明，征收环境税可以显著减轻空气污染和水污染对居民幸福感的负面影响。本研究的结果为政府征收环境税提供了经验证据。
