Tracking the distributional impacts of B.C.'s carbon tax

A colleague of mine pointed out a relatively new paper about the distributional impacts of B.C.'s carbon tax. In my work, we look at actual energy expenditures by different household groups, and because lower-income groups spend a greater share of their income on (carbon-intensive) energy, any carbon tax is regressive. But that regressivity ultimately depends on what you do with the revenues, and can be compensated with a credit. In B.C.'s case, when the carbon tax was instituted, there was a decent low-income credit that made the overall regime progressive, but as the tax increased from $10 to $30 per tonne, the credit did not keep up, and the current regime is regressive.