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But the contract itself is also sold by a monopolist. The sandwiches have to pay for rent somehow. In the end you can extract X amount of money from all the pa

But the contract itself is also sold by a monopolist. The sandwiches have to pay for rent somehow. In the end you can extract X amount of money from all the passengers and that gets split between the landlord and the vendor. So it's not just that the vendor has a monopoly, if they didn't have a monopoly there would still be some amount they'd pay in rent for the captive audience.

treeman79 4y ago
Same reason raising taxes on companies doesn’t work. It either gets passed onto the consumer or company goes under if business drops too much.
- bandyaboot 4y ago
  Doesn’t the blanket statement that “raising taxes on companies doesn’t work” naturally imply that the only tax rate that “works” is zero?
  - PebblesRox 4y ago
    I think the implication is that it doesn't work as a way to avoid raising taxes on regular people.
    - rocqua 4y ago
      It taxes regular people differently than taxing them directly. VAT rates on food tend to be regressive. Taxing company profits has little effect on prices.
- stu2b50 4y ago
  Only if the product has completely inelastic demand? Also, that'd depend on the goal of the tax in question?
- fuckingbonkers 4y ago
  It works in the sense that some people feel better about paying higher taxes if they pay them by paying higher prices to corporations that then pay the tax. And other people feel better about raising taxes on people if they do so by raising taxes on corporations that then raise prices on people.
- dsr_ 4y ago
  Raising taxes on income doesn't work. Workers will just demand higher wages to compensate. If this logic doesn't work, then there are some unstated assumptions.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  That's the opposite of true in a monopoly environment.
- phone8675309 4y ago
  There are some taxes that are actually designed to work that way - the most common instance being "sin" taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis as a way to reduce demand on those items by making them much more expensive.

treeman79 4y ago

Same reason raising taxes on companies doesn’t work. It either gets passed onto the consumer or company goes under if business drops too much.

bandyaboot 4y ago
Doesn’t the blanket statement that “raising taxes on companies doesn’t work” naturally imply that the only tax rate that “works” is zero?
- PebblesRox 4y ago
  I think the implication is that it doesn't work as a way to avoid raising taxes on regular people.
  - rocqua 4y ago
    It taxes regular people differently than taxing them directly. VAT rates on food tend to be regressive. Taxing company profits has little effect on prices.
stu2b50 4y ago
Only if the product has completely inelastic demand? Also, that'd depend on the goal of the tax in question?
fuckingbonkers 4y ago
It works in the sense that some people feel better about paying higher taxes if they pay them by paying higher prices to corporations that then pay the tax. And other people feel better about raising taxes on people if they do so by raising taxes on corporations that then raise prices on people.
dsr_ 4y ago
Raising taxes on income doesn't work. Workers will just demand higher wages to compensate. If this logic doesn't work, then there are some unstated assumptions.
hgsgm 4y ago
That's the opposite of true in a monopoly environment.
phone8675309 4y ago
There are some taxes that are actually designed to work that way - the most common instance being "sin" taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis as a way to reduce demand on those items by making them much more expensive.