New Episode of Resources Radio: “Shifting Sands: Using Taxes to Build the Best Beaches, with Megan Mullin”
WASHINGTON, DC—Resources for the Future (RFF) today released a new installment of Resources Radio: “Shifting Sands: Using Taxes to Build the Best Beaches, with Megan Mullin.”
In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Megan Mullin, an associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Mullin talks about her research, which analyzes how communities pay to rehabilitate beaches affected by erosion and how differential tax rates can affect levels of support for these beach nourishment projects. Mullin also makes clear why coastal management is relevant: as climate change accelerates the erosion of beaches, and as federal funding dries up, local communities will increasingly have to grapple with how to pay to replenish their shorelines.
Notable quotes from the podcast:
- Preparing waterfront property for climate change: “Beach nourishment is quite simply the import of sand from some other location, typically offshore, to rebuild an eroded beach. It’s an old practice. The first major project in the United States was almost a hundred years ago, but it’s increasing with time, as sea level rise and more frequent and more severe coastal storms are amplifying erosion patterns at the shore.” (4:29)
- Potential for differential tax rates: “[Governments] want to provide public goods, but taxpayers often don’t want to pay for those public goods. And so they’re using these instruments, which [include] this differential property tax rate … They create these special taxing districts and define a set of properties that will differentially enjoy benefits from the project and tax those properties at a rate as much as 10 or 15 times the citywide tax rate.” (10:15)
- Why the public supports beach nourishment: “We can’t discount the importance of the immediate return in beach nourishment. There is this amenity value that exists in this policy space where you widen the beach, and it’s lovely. You can go fly a kite, you can take long walks on the beach, you get this scenic value and an immediate boost in your tourism revenue. Not all adaptation strategies are going to have that kind of immediate return.” (24:35)
Resources Radio is a weekly podcast series exploring timely environmental, energy, and natural resources topics. Episodes can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.
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