Carbon Tax Implementation In Malaysia: Public Acceptance And Trust In The Government
Carbon emissions in the atmosphere have become a major global concern. Many developed countries in Europe (examples: Finland, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) have adopted the carbon tax policy for decades. Meanwhile, among developing countries, only several countries (example: Chile, Mexico, Ukr...
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| Summary: | Carbon emissions in the atmosphere have become a major global concern. Many
developed countries in Europe (examples: Finland, Poland, Norway, Sweden,
Denmark) have adopted the carbon tax policy for decades. Meanwhile, among
developing countries, only several countries (example: Chile, Mexico, Ukraine,
Argentina) have adopted the carbon tax policy for years. Experiences from developed
and developing countries proved that carbon tax is one of the best ways to reduce
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and improve economic growth. In Malaysia, the
implementation of a carbon tax has been identified as a target for future environmental
sustainability development as part of the strategic development of the 12th Malaysia
Plan (12MP), as indicated in the Economic Planning Unit 2019. To successfully
implement a carbon tax, having public support for the carbon tax is crucial to avoid
public resistance to its implementation. However, trust in the government is a major
problem faced by many developing countries. In addition, limited studies on public
acceptance of carbon tax had been conducted in the context of developing countries.
Malaysia has experienced an increase in trust issues as a result of the government
change in early 2018. This has had a negative influence on the Malaysian government,
with the public losing trust in the government in comparison to other organisations.
These have prompted concerns about public support for the proposed carbon tax.
Thus, this study intends to conduct a study on the pre-implementation of carbon tax
using the trust theory by examining how trust in the government influences public
acceptance of the carbon tax implementation in Malaysia. The variables tested in the
study are political trust, government’s integrity, government’s competence, and
government’s accountability. This study adopts the quantitative research methodology
to achieve the research objectives by distributing an online questionnaire to Malaysian
citizens, and 566 respondents completed the survey. The data of the study was
analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The result of the
study indicated that the government’s competence and accountability are the factors
that influence public acceptance of the carbon tax. The other factors (political trust
and government’s integrity) have no significant influence on the public acceptance of
carbon tax. This study contribute to the extension of literature on trust towards the
government and carbon tax as well as enhance the knowledge of policymakers in
implementing the carbon tax policy in Malaysia. Examining the public acceptance on
carbon tax will help the government to take earlier precaution to avoid public
opposition against carbon tax. |
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