EPA To Tax Cow Emissions, Are Pigovian Taxes Really Good Policy?
Gerald Prante at the Tax Foundation blog posts this MSNBC report about a farmer worried that his cows, ahem, emissions will soon be taxed by the EPA:
Given Obama’s plans for using emissions regulation to control every aspect of our economy, I don’t think taxing cow emissions is that much of a stretch.
But what disappoints me is Prante’s apparent approval of taxes on emissions in general. He takes no position on global warming, and whether or not a cow’s contribution to something like global warming can even be quantified in any meaningful way for the purpose of taxation, but he does suggest that “a tax on cows in the amount that is equivalent to the negative harm done per cow” is appropriate.
Which is frustrating coming from an organization like the Tax Foundation.
I, for one, don’t believe that the tax code should be used to manipulate behavior. Doing so unnecessarily complicates our tax code, gives inappropriate amounts of power over our behavior to bureaucrats and presumes that the government should be in the business of dictating to us what is and is not appropriate behavior in the first place.
We need to be simplifying our tax code in America, not using it as a regulatory tool.
