Should government manipulate you through the tax code

[Big War Bird]

The function of taxation is to raise money for the functions of government. But leaders have long known that through taxation they can modify the behavior of the ruled. This is know as the social incentive.

For example as a homeowner I get a tax deduction for the interest I pay on a home mortgage. If I rented the home I lived I would get no such break, even though the cost to rent might be exactly the same. Clearly I am being incentivized to buy rather than rent, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. There has even been a proposal to take away that deduction if you live in the wrong kind of house!

Another example is the cigarette tax. Cigarettes are highly taxed so as to keep people from smoking, yet if this were 100% effective the first function of taxation would be destroyed.

Likewise there is a tax on alcohol for much the same reason.

A democrat lawmaker in New Mexico wants to place additional taxes on Television and video games, obstensively to encourage kids to pay outside and lose weight.

There are taxes to punish you for driving the wrong type of car (and rebates for driving the "right" type)

There is a tax break for giving to charity, but if a family member needs financial help I would pay a gift tax on what I gave him.

There are tax breaks for doctors working were the government wants them too.

There are even taxes designed to discourage working hard. With the graduated income tax the more you earn the higher the tax.

There is even a tax break for filing my taxes in the right way (well not for me, I make too much. There we go punishing hard work again!)

So the question is this? Do you want to be manipulated by government in this way.

[GrnEyedDvl]

Taxes should be as small and unintrusive as possible. We have so many forms of taxation its ridiculous, and I believe that you could even make the argument that you are double or even quintiple taxed several ways.

[Ummagumma]

I suppose it is just the carrot or the stick theory. Incentives for doing the 'right' thing and punishments for doing the 'wrong' thing. The punishments are for things to trivial to criminalise, so cigarettes and tobacco is taxed to discourage use, while hard drugs are made illegal in an attempt to remove it. Likewise, you get bonuses for doing 'right' things, similar to performance-related bonuses in some companies.
To me that seems to be a fair policy, social engineering is a long-standing thing, but the requirements for punishment and reward should always be reviewed. In the UK we have taxes on top of taxes on things like tobacco (and petrol!) as well as the many things that require VAT. Removing the system I don't consider to be a good move, but what is eligible and how much for could be altered. Even things like chocolate biscuits are classed as a 'luxury item', therefore have a VAT charge on them. Jaffa cakes fairly famously sidestepped this until the early 90's..
I can't pick an option though, I'm not against the principle of it at all, but I couldn't say I 'trust' them to always make the right decisions.

[Cyphon88]

The Conservatives are offering tax breaks of £20 a month to for married couples.

'**** you i hate this marriage, go to hell'
'Theres £10 here if you stay........'
'So when do you want dinner then dear?'

[Kiljan Arslan]

Wow great biased poll Love how completeley baised it is.

[Big War Bird]

Wow great biased poll Love how completeley baised it is.

How is it biased?

Its a pretty straight forward question. Do you want government manipulation of personal behavior through the tax code?

[Chaigidel]

just dont pay your taxes and see what happens

then whine about fair and unfair to the courts

the only manipulation in the tax code is that the rich get off far too easy and should be paying 80 percent of their income, and essentially working in the salt mines because they are less than people, they are human maggots.

[Kiljan Arslan]

Really BWB let me see here it uses what is called Push polling using biased qquestion to make one choose the answer the poster most desired.

[Big War Bird]

Really BWB let me see here it uses what is called Push polling using biased qquestion to make one choose the answer the poster most desired.

Uh, you do know that government does use the tax code to manipulate the people's behavior right? There certainly is a case to be made for it. The sin tax on tobacco has improved public health, for example.

[Kiljan Arslan]

UYou do know Manipulate is known as a word that someone uses to try to convince others they are right? This is not a poll its a sham.

[Petite Pete]

UYou do know Manipulate is known as a word that someone uses to try to convince others they are right? This is not a poll its a sham.

Of course the government should manipulate people. Poeple are not smart enough to make decisions without having government telling them what to do.





j/k

In a society that calls itself "free" the government should not be so concerned with the personal decsions of its citizens

[Kiljan Arslan]

What manipulation do you speak of?

[Petite Pete]

Huh? Read the original post, its full of examples.

[Kiljan Arslan]

I don't call that Manipulative I call that Great ways to make taxes, now the war on drugs is manipulative.

BTW is this your first time back since 2006?

[Petite Pete]

I don't call that Manipulative I call that Great ways to make taxes, now the war on drugs is manipulative.

BTW is this your first time back since 2006?

Has it been that long since I logged in? I guess I only browse for info on mods.


The war on drugs is a fight against crime, whether that they should legal or not is another question. Raising taxes is fine, but lets suppose that the government came to the realization that high speed internet was proportional to obesity (something certainly not out of the question!) Now suppose lawmakers concerned about the rising cost of healthcare decided to place a tax on every cable modem and placed a heavy tax on internet service. Would you be ok with that?

[Kiljan Arslan]

They would be having a revolt on their hands.

[Big War Bird]

They would be having a revolt on their hands.

So you oppose manipulation through taxes?

[Kiljan Arslan]

No I don't I'm just saying that there are some taxes that I would Oppose like that tax.