Re:Soon, Cars in Denmark Will Only Be Taxed at 100% (2017)
by ucaetano on Thursday January 18, 2018 @08:50PM
(#16183457)
> It seems like you're proposing taxing based on the price of the good, not the cost of the negative externalities.
Wrong. I'm proposing that to have the same economic incentive on a luxury version of a certain good you need a higher proportional tax to account for the flattening of personal utility curves.
And that's before we get into the fact that luxury vehicles have even higher negative externalities due to increased engine size, lower fuel efficiency, larger size, etc.
> I'm not proposing to tax spending, I'm proposing to tax a good so that its price accurately reflects the negative impact on society it causes.
It seems like you're proposing taxing based on the price of the good, not the cost of the negative externalities. It would make more sense to tax based on some combination of the car's weight, footprint, engine size, fuel efficiency, and emissions metrics, based on use of the vehicle, as well as at purchase time.
A vehicle that's a luxury item, but otherwise comparable in relevant statistics, doesn't necessarily need to be taxed more heavily than a basic version of the same thing.