Economic incentive program - hr 1256

Business Licensing. Building Permits. Economic Development. Economic Incentive Programs. Health Inspections. Housing Inspections. Bid Results. Online Bill Pay. Purchasing City-Owned Property. Real Property Tax List. Redevelopment Zones. Deposit-refund systems are a prominent example of a Tax-Subsidy incentive approach. Take, for example, a beverage container recycling program. First, a product charge or tax is initiated that increases the upfront cost of purchasing the container.

Second, a subsidy is rewarded to the consumer for recycling or properly disposing of the container. Deposit-refund systems are also available for lead-acid batteries, automobile parts, pesticide containers, propane gas containers, large paper drums, and beer keys. Pollution standards set specific emissions limits, and thereby reduce the chance of excessively high damages to health or the environment but may impose large costs on polluters.

Emissions taxes restrict costs by allowing polluting sources to pay a tax on the amount they emit, but because there are no emission limits, taxes leave open the possibility that pollution may be excessively high. A combination of standards and pricing mechanisms, referred to as a "safety-valve", may be used to limit both costs and pollution in these cases. This combination imposes the same emissions standard on all polluters and all polluters are then subject to a unit tax for emissions in excess of the standard.

This policy combination has some attractive features. First, if the standard is set properly, proper protection of health and the environment will be assured since the standard provides protection against excessively damaging pollution levels.

Second, high abatement cost polluters can defray costs by paying the emissions fee instead of cleaning up. Liability assignment is most often targeted at producers of waste or emissions that are easily identifiable and hazardous to public health. The purpose of liability is to not only hold polluters accountable for the proper management and disposal of their waste or emissions, but also for cleanup and remediation costs. There are two major U.

These two laws not only give polluters an incentive to make more careful and socially conscious decisions, but also hold them financially responsible to the victims of pollution. Information disclosure programs are designed to influence firm behavior through the dissemination of information on items such as production processes, labor standards, and pollution levels, to the federal, state and local government agencies, or to the public.

By making business owners, employees, shareholders and customers a part of the regulatory process, all parties have an incentive to practice behavior that is socially responsible. Both voluntary and mandatory reporting programs exist in the United States. An EIS is a report specifying potential environmental damages and alternative approaches to the agency action to minimize adverse impacts.

Labeling schemes are widely used voluntary reporting programs. Generally, a non-profit organization or government agency sets standards for a product to meet environmentally sustainable goals. Voluntary programs are useful for policy-makers who wish to test potential policy options or who want to encourage better production or consumption practices. Goals of voluntary actions include providing participating firms with a competitive edge firms that participate in a voluntary program might have larger social appeal than those that do not , increase-value added to businesses, and reduce pollution.

Most voluntary programs are designed and implemented by the U. Environmental Protection Agency. There are several benefits available to companies who wish to join a voluntary program. First, participation can improve their public image.

Second, the program might offer technical or other types of assistance in exchange for participation. Third, because voluntary programs are sometimes initiated as a pilot test to a regulation, participation can help the company to more quickly transition to a formal law, and possible limit potential litigation and monitoring and enforcement costs.

A general problem with voluntary action programs is that it is quantitatively difficult to assess the success of the program.

Program evaluators have developed several statistical methods, however, to research success rates. The selection of the most appropriate market-based incentive or hybrid regulatory approach depends on a wide variety of factors, including:.

Market-based or hybrid instruments aim to address two main types of market failure. The first is the failure of firms or consumers to integrate into their decision-making the impact of their production or consumption decisions on entities external to themselves. Market-based or hybrid instruments that incorporate the costs of environmental externalities from pollution i.

The second type of market failure is the inability of firms or consumers to make optimal decisions due to lack of information on investment options, available abatement technologies, or associated risks. Information disclosure or labeling are often suggested when this occurs because policy makers believe that private and public sector decision-makers will act to address an environmental problem once information has been disseminated.

The use of a particular market-oriented approach is often directly associated with the nature of the environmental problem. Do emissions derive from a point source or a non-point source? Do emissions stem from a stock or flow pollutant? Are emissions uniformly mixed or do they vary by location? Does pollution originate from stationary or mobile sources? Our recommendations included changes to the tax abatement and training grant programs to align evaluation criteria with inclusive values, as well as the establishment of a community impact network.

The Community Impact Network is a pioneering new shared-values approach whereby businesses receiving economic incentives commit to supporting workers through civic engagement, social support services, and skills development.

As cities shift towards more inclusive economic development policies, many are reconsidering the role of their incentives. In undertaking this transformation, many cities and counties across the country share the same questions: How effective are our incentive programs in driving desired outcomes? How do we expand our goals and evaluation metrics beyond simple traditional measures to increasingly nuanced public policy objectives around promoting greater inclusivity?

How do we adapt our programs to improve the public Return on investment for these critical investments?