Re:Affordable Care
by will_pseudonym on Saturday January 14, 2017 @01:27AM
(#13397217)
I'm aware of what excise taxes are, but I see why it might seem like that's what I meant, because I wasn't really explaining what I meant by that phrase. By "excess tax", I mean taxes in excess of the cost of the behavior they're trying to regulate. Both of these examples are both excise taxes, the rates of which are in excess of the costs borne to society of those activities.
You may be mishearing the term "excise tax". An excise tax is a tax on any specific good, such as tobacco or gasoline. Those taxes are included in the cost of the good (it just costs more at the pump or on the shelf). Yes, they are typically used to reduce consumption, or to pay for costs associated with consumption (eg roads).