True Cost Economics/Taxation

[Chuck U. Farlie]

I haven't delved deeply into this subject, but I have read a few things from the Greens and the NDP regarding true cost economics... one example I've heard repeatedly would be to tax gasoline to the point where the taxes cover the costs of the negative externalities (i.e. smog, health expenses related to vehicle use or misuse, greenhouse gases, costs to build roads, loss of land, etc)...

How do you people feel about this idea of true cost economics - basically itemized taxation?

What I have in mind is that income tax would be greatly lowered... to just enough to cover the absolute essentials such as military, basic health care, and basic education, etc.. Everything else where there was choice to participate or not (i.e. driving on highways, taking trains or subways, for example) had fees that represented the true costs of these activities, and were all separated.

Now before you jump down my throat and start calling me an idiot, let me point out that I am not saying i favour this or not... I am trying to think of the benefits of such a system (i.e. you only pay for what you use - if you lead a simple life, you pay very little)... versus the negatives in such a system (not nearly as much access to services, possible underfunding of education, etc...)

[geoffrey]

I think the true costs are what would exist in a truly free market. A cost isn't an arbitrary value determined by someone in a big office in Ottawa, a cost is what I'm willing to give you for your good or service.

Nothing has the same cost to everyone. A dollar to me is ten to someone else and a penny to another man.

[Riverwind]

Everything else where there was choice to participate or not (i.e. driving on highways, taking trains or subways, for example) had fees that represented the true costs of these activities, and were all separated.

You forget that all roads are subsidized - not just highways. So if you take your logic to extreme you should charge people who walk down sidewalks or play in parks. What you would end up with is an unpleasant and unliveable society.

Futhermore, there are larger issues at stake. A skilled person living in a society full of illiterate peasants is going to be poorer that a skilled person living in a society full of equally skilled people because the latter society is more productive. That means that paying for education benefits society as a whole and not simply the people receiving it.

[jester]

Pay as you go road tax you mean.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4610755.stm

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Pay-as-you-go' road charge plan

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050605/362/fkgbg.html

Government considers "pay-as-you-drive" road charges - Yahoo! News UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../05/nroad05.xml

Telegraph | News | The road to ruin: how pay as you drive could cost families £3,000 every year

Any time a politician has an idea to replace one tax with another you can bet you will pay even more........ :angry: :angry:

Just Google pay as you go road tax, you will go off the idea pretty fast........

[Charles Anthony]

How do you people feel about this idea of true cost economics - basically itemized taxation?

For big ticket items, it may work. For most things, it is bureaucratically too difficult to manage.

I think the true costs are what would exist in a truly free market.

You are overlooking the environment. We can use the environment without having to pay back.

You forget that all roads are subsidized - not just highways. So if you take your logic to extreme you should charge people who walk down sidewalks or play in parks. What you would end up with is an unpleasant and unliveable society.

That pessimistic perspective is unrealistic. Whoever owns the sidewalks or parks could simply let people enter for free. The maintenance costs could be covered by others.

I can walk into a coffee shop and buy one coffee . I can sit and chat all day on my cellphone, monkey on my laptop or read the newspaper.

I can walk into a casino and never gamble. Some casinos offer free drinks and finger foods to keep people going.

I can walk into a shopping mall and buy nothing. As a hobo, I can sit there all day and enjoy the warmth -- for free. If I need exercise, I can walk laps around the mall all day and all I want -- for free.

I can turn on the radio and listen to beautiful pop music and advertizements -- for free.

I can stare up in the sky and marvel at the wonderful hot air ballons with advertizements on them -- for free.

Free market capitalism does not need to charge everybody for everything. It just needs people to throw down governmental crutches and a different mind-set.