You cannot tax companies.
Taxes on companies are always just indirect taxes on people.
If they can, companies pass the taxes on to their customers in the form of higher prices. If they can't, that money comes out of the value of the company and the stockholders take the hit.
Either way, there is no free pile of money there that the government can tap into without consequence.
It's an interesting problem.
And it has a lot to do with how you feel about the state and what duties each person has to society.
We've just been hearing caterwauling about those parents that decided not to risk vaccinating their children. The horror! They owe those vaccinations to SOCIETY!
Okay.
But, maybe if that's so, you owe it to society not to smoke. Sure, I know you want to, but who cares? Society. You owe us.
Of course, then where do you draw the line? Does society require that we not be overweight? Does it require that cupcakes be illegal? Mandatory minimums on exercise that must be verified by a State Health Officer?
Personally I despise smoking and all drug abuse. I knew a lot of people growing up that spent a lot of time stoned, and to a person, they were unimpressive.
But I worry about us letting Society impose too much on the individual. We have to be careful here or we won't like what we've created.
Still, I think it's insane legalizing drugs which are currently illegal. There are whole classes of people that do not take various dangerous drugs at least in part because they are illegal. Making them legal changes the whole equation and can only result in more people addicted. Are we really going to legalize heroin? Crack? Meth?
Seems like a really stupid idea to me.
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You cannot tax companies. Taxes on companies are always just indirect taxes on people. If they can, companies pass the taxes on to their customers in the form of higher prices. If they can't, that money comes out of the value of the company and the stockholders take the hit. Either way, there is no free pile of money there that the government can tap into without consequence.
It's an interesting problem. And it has a lot to do with how you feel about the state and what duties each person has to society. We've just been hearing caterwauling about those parents that decided not to risk vaccinating their children. The horror! They owe those vaccinations to SOCIETY! Okay. But, maybe if that's so, you owe it to society not to smoke. Sure, I know you want to, but who cares? Society. You owe us. Of course, then where do you draw the line? Does society require that we not be overweight? Does it require that cupcakes be illegal? Mandatory minimums on exercise that must be verified by a State Health Officer? Personally I despise smoking and all drug abuse. I knew a lot of people growing up that spent a lot of time stoned, and to a person, they were unimpressive. But I worry about us letting Society impose too much on the individual. We have to be careful here or we won't like what we've created. Still, I think it's insane legalizing drugs which are currently illegal. There are whole classes of people that do not take various dangerous drugs at least in part because they are illegal. Making them legal changes the whole equation and can only result in more people addicted. Are we really going to legalize heroin? Crack? Meth? Seems like a really stupid idea to me.