> 1. You should tax what you want less of.
Do you think all taxes should be punitive? Are you against personal income and sales taxes, and business profit taxes?
Do you think all taxes should be punitive? Are you against personal income and sales taxes, and business profit taxes?
So if one is planning a tax regime, you should think long and hard about the first and second order effects of your planned taxes. Unfortunately too many in government and politics don't think about this.
This is why it's interesting to consider taxes that aren't tied to activities, or activities that are extremely resistant to change, e.g.
- taxing land doesn't impact the supply of land, as (aside from melting ice caps and land 'reclamation' projects) the amount of land on Earth is fixed.
- taxing human existence (e.g. an annual per capita flat tax) doesn't impact the number of humans
However, there is a trade-off in these cases. Look at the examples you gave: personal taxes are progressive and sales tax is regressive.
I think they are discouraging whether or not you want them to be.
In this case there was a distinct purpose behind the tax (helping those who cannot afford housing costs).