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The problem with doing that from the government perspective is that it takes away a lot of its power to shape behavior.

• carsongross 15y ago
  That'd just be terrible, wouldn't it?
  • invalidOrTaken 15y ago
    While my knee-jerk response is to agree with you, there are some cases where we want the government to shape behavior. The best example I can think of for this is gas taxes---there's a cost to driving (road maintenance, traffic lights/signage) that you wouldn't really pay for unless it were through taxes. You could point out that that's a sales tax and thus not particularly applicable to the discussion at hand, and I'd agree, but the idea of making people pay for negative externalities is a good one.
    • carsongross 15y ago
      With an income tax? Rather than a use tax?