Paying for a product that you are going to use is not a "TAX". Having money extracted from you with very little to no exchange in return by a government is a tax.
I mean, really. You are paying for an operating system, without which your computer would be a boat anchor. And a suite of programs that do most of what is done on computers in an office.
They are software products that you pay for. They aren't free, and you are not constitutionally guaranteed the right to have a working computer and an office suite. It's not a welfare system.
Actually, the drug companies don't spend a lot of money on developing new drugs. Most of the money for research developing new drugs is spent by universities, public money, etc.
The drug companies spend a LOT of money on marketing and lobbying, and also in trying to create new uses for a drug they already have in order to create a new patent for it.
The drug comanies have contributed very little in the way of developing new useful drugs.
A lot of the money they do spend on research is on bogus research, like non-scientific questionaires sent to doctors, who are paid for their "consulting". Of course they had to prescribe the drug in order to fill out the questionaire.
Couple good books are "The Truth About the Drug Comapnies" by Marcia Angell. She was the editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine for about 15 years. After some articles were published there that were critical of the drug companies, well, she doesn't work there anymore.
Another is "Mad in America".
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Paying for a product that you are going to use is not a "TAX". Having money extracted from you with very little to no exchange in return by a government is a tax. I mean, really. You are paying for an operating system, without which your computer would be a boat anchor. And a suite of programs that do most of what is done on computers in an office. They are software products that you pay for. They aren't free, and you are not constitutionally guaranteed the right to have a working computer and an office suite. It's not a welfare system.
Actually, the drug companies don't spend a lot of money on developing new drugs. Most of the money for research developing new drugs is spent by universities, public money, etc. The drug companies spend a LOT of money on marketing and lobbying, and also in trying to create new uses for a drug they already have in order to create a new patent for it. The drug comanies have contributed very little in the way of developing new useful drugs. A lot of the money they do spend on research is on bogus research, like non-scientific questionaires sent to doctors, who are paid for their "consulting". Of course they had to prescribe the drug in order to fill out the questionaire. Couple good books are "The Truth About the Drug Comapnies" by Marcia Angell. She was the editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine for about 15 years. After some articles were published there that were critical of the drug companies, well, she doesn't work there anymore. Another is "Mad in America".