Monday, April 2, 2012

Mitt & "Full Disclosure" - he don't!

Mr. Mitt has called upon Mr. Barack to fire Ken Salazar (Interior Sec'y), Steven Chu (Energy Sec'y), and Lisa Jackson (head of EPA), on the grounds that these three are conspiring to raise the price of gasoline via imposition of ever-increasing tax on gas.

What Mr. Mitt doesn't tell you is that his senior econominc advisor, Greg Mankiw, has advocated just this position!
TAX BADS RATHER THAN GOODS A good rule of thumb is that when you tax something, you get less of it. That means that taxes on hard work, saving and entrepreneurial risk-taking impede these fundamental drivers of economic growth. The alternative is to tax those things we would like to get less of.

Consider the tax on gasoline. Driving your car is associated with various adverse side effects, which economists call externalities. These include traffic congestion, accidents, local pollution and global climate change. If the tax on gasoline were higher, people would alter their behavior to drive less. They would be more likely to take public transportation, use car pools or live closer to work.

The incentives they face when deciding how much to drive would more closely match the true social costs and benefits. Economists who have added up all the externalities associated with driving conclude that a tax exceeding $2 a gallon makes sense. That would provide substantial revenue that could be used to reduce other taxes. By taxing bad things more, we could tax good things less.

[NYT, 22 Jan 2012]
Ah, Mitt, we wish we knew ye!

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