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Taxing them to account for the externalities they bring.
by strongpigeon 6mo ago
Taxing them to account for the externalities they bring.
- rangerelf 6mo agoThis right here is the right take.
- trollbridge 6mo agoMight have the effect of making it uneconomic, though, and then they wouldn't get built.
- kube-system 6mo agoUsually that's a good approach but it doesn't work as well for industries that are in boom-bust cycles or have externalities which persist longer than the lifetime of the company that caused it -- because you either end up in a situation where you have to tax it all up-front, or end up in a situation where companies disappear and leave you to clean up their mess. This is notoriously problematic with oil and gas wells. When it's profitable, they're maintained and you get tax revenue. When they're not profitable, the company might just disappear and you're left with an abandoned uncapped well spewing pollution, generating zero tax revenue.