Comments on: When more tax is good tax…

By: jenniferchoi

jenniferchoi — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:09:32 +0000

Wow, this article really helped me understand the concept of negative externalities and how more tax can be beneficial as it reduce such spillovers. Considering the negative exteranalities and suggested solutions, i think “more gas taxes” is actually the right way to solve the problem.

By: calvinlu

calvinlu — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:01:16 +0000

Before reading this article, the only benefit i know from paying taxes is to raise money for the government in order for them to build infrastructures that make our lives better, most of the time. But now I know taxes is way more than that, it actually helps the society to reallocate resource to achieve higher efficiency. Thus taxing can be a solution to problems we’re facing in the 21rs century, such as global warming

By: Jessica Chiang

Jessica Chiang — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:09:52 +0000

Haha this is sort of like…reverse psychology. If the price and tax on gasoline keeps on rising, there will be some pretty angry people out there. Perhaps we should just teach them that taxes are GOOD as they correct market failures. And save the environment =) By the way, has anyone noticed that all these posts about market failure and their solutions are related to ways to prevent global warming (like the post on pollution rights)?

By: Mond

Mond — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:16:13 +0000

My mom always complains about taxes every so often,I never thought a high tax could be beneficial. The taxation will help reallocate resources so the socially optimal amount is produced, which also translates to less air pollution, and the tax revenue could also be used to improve and solve other pollution problems. People who use gas will have more of a burden since gas is an inelastic good, but they pay for the pollution that they cause.

By: judychen

judychen — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:51:47 +0000

Yeah, basically no one wants to pay tax. But, in this case, paying tax is to correct the negative externalities which seems more useful to the world and people. So people would be paying tax more willingly as well.

By: Jeff Ye

Jeff Ye — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:59:25 +0000

Yes, in this case high taxes may benefit society in the long run. It’ll make people either stop driving as much, and take advantage of public transportation, or force them to change to more fuel efficient cars. However, if high taxes are to work, then it should be implemented as soon as possible, as fossil fuels are declining at a rapid rate, and eventually, taxes on them won’t even be needed as they disappear forever.

By: Sunny Kim

Sunny Kim — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:16:35 +0000

Before reading this article, I’ve always believed that high tax is bad for everyone and government increase it just because to satisfy its greediness. However, no I realize that actually high tax can bring benefit to the world. By putting high tax on gasoline, people will tend to save gasoline more and this will eventually slow down the global warming and other serious enviromental problems. Moreover, subsidy on hydrogen fuels, a complement of gasoline, will also moderate the problem.

By: MichaelChow

MichaelChow — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 08:02:20 +0000

Referring back to Charlie’s point, yes I definitely agree that this whole idea of taxing gas is in fact a great idea to society. As the prices of gas goes up we can expect that the demand from consumers of gasoline to decrease as well. This would only result in a better way to protect our environment.

By: Richard T.

Richard T. — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:01:51 +0000

I agree to Yunqi’s point. Every rational individuals will seek ways to maximize his or her own limitless desire in this scarce society. Therefore, to achieve their own comfort and convenience, people tend to think the earth can recycle and sustain all the pollutants submitted.However, they are totally wrong as global warming pointed out. Thus, this taxation is a great idea; the quantity demanded for the gas cars will decrease dramatically, and indirectly FORCE people to demand more environmental healthy cars as Charlie mentioned.

By: Charlie.Gao

Charlie.Gao — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:52:06 +0000

Yeah I think taxing gas is a great idea for reducing the pollution that is harmful to our environment. By increasing taxes on gas substantially, the demand for gas powered cars will decrease and people will start to ride bicycles or whatnot. Furthermore, a subsidy for hydrogen powered cars will complement the tax on gas because it will lower the demand for gas powered cars and increased demand for more environmentally healthy cars.

By: yunqimok

yunqimok — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:41:07 +0000

In this world, the only thing that can motivate people is money. In fact, money, not love or hate or anyting like that, but greed, makes people do the things that they do. Companies have negative externalities because they are greedy for more profits. People are greedy for their own comfort and thus take private transport and pollute up the world instead of public transport. However, by taxing gasoline, or by having pollution rights, everyone groans but in the long run, society benefits. People hate to lose money, so they will think twice before doing something harmful to society, that they would otherwise never even bother about.

By: kevinchiu

kevinchiu — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:48:13 +0000

It is interesting to finally see a reason why taxes are used for something other than funding government-related activities; it is an interesting point that using taxes on gas to deter people from far-away jobs helps the environment.

By: Angel Liu

Angel Liu — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:15:02 +0000

this blog is actually more helpful than before!! i’m working on a mun resolution global warming, and our study on market failure, such as negative externalities on the environment, is giving me a lot of ideas for my resolution