Estimation of willingness to pay environmental tax on gasoline by conditional valuation model (CVM) in Mashhad

Background and Objective: Increasing awareness and concerns about environmental damages has led communities to take solutions to this problem. Taxation of pollutant emissions is one of the strategies recommended by economists to achieve some of the environmental objectives and eliminate contamination. The purpose of this study is to estimate the willingness to pay an environmental tax on gasoline. Method: In this study, a conditional valuation method (CVM) is used to measure individuals' willingness to pay for goods and services. The statistical population of this research is gasoline-fueled cars in Mashhad in 2017, due to the lack of information on the number of vehicles, the number of unlimited society has been considered. In this study, 500 people were selected by simple random sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. It’s validity was confirmed using content validity. Findings: The results indicate that 77 percent of all respondents tend to pay environmental taxes on urban air, while 22 percent of the population are not willing to pay any amount under the name of the pollution tax. Approximately 3% have not been self-reported regarding their willingness to pay. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the research findings, environmental beliefs has a positive and significant effect on the willingness to pay tax on gasoline; therefore, it is suggested that cultural and informational platforms be developed before clarifying the need for environmental taxes before planning for such a tax.