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IMPACT OF THE FEDERAL TAX CODE ON RESOURCE RECOVERY
Citation:
Anderson, R. AND R. Spiegelman. IMPACT OF THE FEDERAL TAX CODE ON RESOURCE RECOVERY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/5-76/009.
Description:
The study assessed the extent to which a variety of federal tax subsidies to extractive industries effect the flow of materials to competing secondary materials industries. The impacts on virgin material supply for steel, paper, lead, copper, and aluminum industries were analyzed and flows of virgin and secondary materials characterized at points where they substitute as inputs to production. Econometric models were used to analyze the impacts on quantities of secondary materials recycled. It was estimated that the short-run effect of eliminating federal tax subsidies would increase the recycling of scrap steel by 0.42 percent; waste paper, 0.67 percent; lead, 0.75 percent; copper, 0.35 percent; and aluminum, 1.7 percent. The cumulative effect over the long-run from the elimination of the subsidies may be considerably larger if the impacts on investment and choice of technology decisions in the affected industries are included.