A Pigovian tax, named for British economist Arthur Pigou, is a tax aimed at diminishing an activity seen as harmful to society. An example would be a pollution tax on companies guilty of polluting the air or water.
The Irish have taken this step to rid their society of plastic bags. Could we do the same here? Should we? Can you think of other activities that could be taxed?
22 comments:
It's not a bad idea, but there would have to be some restraints. There is a reason people use plastic bags- because they're cheap and easily produced. Whether we like it or not, our economy is run on myriad little sectors as such.
Actually, I really like the idea. :)
I think it would be an interesting transition, but people would get used to using reusable bags. Plastic bags weren't always so prevalent (obviously), and I don't think they have to be now.
Larger families would probably have more difficulty trying to use only cloth bags--I know my family uses quite a few plastic bags for our weekly grocery shopping. But I wouldn't mind transitioning to reusable bags.
I would really like to see the U.S. transition over to fewer plastic products when their are reusable alternatives. Just as the economy and jobs change when other demands/technology/innovation changes, we would adapt to this transition.
So yes, hooray for the Irish! Hopefully America will get over its superiority complex and follow their lead. :)
i mean i have no problem with the change but it would be better to me to just keep the same plastic bags cuz they're cheap and disposable...
i dont wanna have any hassle bringin other cloth bags or w/e...idk i jus think these plastic bags have always been convenient..
I think it's an awesome idea to tax stuff that's bad for people or the environment- if people want it really badly, they'll be willing to pay more anyway so we get more money. If they don't want it that badly, hey, the world ends up a better place!
Just in case no one has noticed, Americans are remarkably lazy and enjoy indulging in comforts. In old Ireland, there are no super highways and a Suburban in every garage. Grocery shopping means going every two or three days and buying in smaller quantities. IF you could convince people here to buy less than $100 each weekend on food, or buy enough cloth bags to cart that many groceries around perhaps this plan would work.
well its not a bad idea but i dont think that it would work because people are lazy and not everyone cares enough about the environment to actually carry this idea.....
i think this concept is great. Americans are notorious for their lazy habits, so it could be a challenge to get consumers to change from plastic to cloth. In the long run, this concept could help us save the planet, so i think this would be a great idea to implement. I think a tax push people to be more aware of their choices, so i advocate for this tax.
The point that everyone is making about people being lazy only further enhances the shrewdness of this idea; people are lazy because they have no incentive to work harder and there is no punishment for being lazy. By taxing people for irresponsible behavior, the government would force society into adopting better habits, as no one would presumably pay taxes on a habit that they can readily avoid.
i dont think they should tax plastic bags, paper mayb but plastic no
I think it would be a great idea, because we waste so many bags and make so much trash every time we go to the stores. Every time we go out to buy something we use completely new bags and people just take it for granted and they dont realize that using all these bags will hurt the environment. By taxing the bags, maybe society will become more conscience about their surroundings and try to take better care of the environment and even if they dont start to think that way, just because it will cost more to use plastic bags they will be helping the environment without even noticing it.
This whole cloth bag idea seems like it was initiated by Al Gore. It does remind me of the video he produced about our earth's enviornment and how irresponsible we are with our resources.
This is a good idea, but in my family, it probably wouldn't fly, because we buy too many groceries. Plastic bags mean convienence and quickness. That's what America is based on now a days anyway, speed; how fast we can get in and out of places.
I bet you the plastic bag companies are a little p.o.ed at this idea as well.
Sounds like a good idea, but society in Ireland is a whole lot different from society over here. They probably don't go the the grocery store once every week and buy a whole pantry full of groceries - they probably buy everything fresh and only buy what they need at the time. So, for them, using cloth bags is really helpful because they make frequent trips. For us, not so much - it means buying more cloth bags and carting all of them around. That doesn't sound like it will go over well with the typical American.
This is a pretty good idea. Taxing for the use of plastic bags is a bit troublesome at first, but we can get accustomed to paperbags. We can plead Americans to switch to paperbags but, out of sloth, they won't! We all know that plastic bags are harmful to the environment, yet we keep using them! The only way, sadly, to get America's attention is by taxing people. So yes, hooray for the Irish! Let's see if Americans can follow the Irish.
First of all Americans just use the Irish. Like during the Civil war the North tricked most people into signing up for free food and money, but instead would send them to their slaughter (Fredicksberg.) So are we just going to use thier idea just like we used them and relieaze its no good. Americans being taxed for using plastic bags. Thats like Americans being taxed for lazyness. I just dosent happen. Why becasue its AMERICA! This is the home of the free, the brave, the i do what i want! There shall never be taxes on something so miniscule in America!
man if there is a tax on plastic bags, then what is going to line in the insides of my trash cans!?!
One comment really stuck in my head when i read the article..i never realized that using plastic bags was a "bad habbit" but Mcartney had a point. I love the thought of plastic bags and storing them after you get 12 from a shopping spree at target...but i also didn't realize the polltion the factories created. of course i hate that ... but i still am stuck between those awesomeeee handy sacks and the waste they produce...
--chelbi jackson
i dont think that they'll ever have a tax on something as small as that in America. while it may be a good idea to help prevent pollution, it might be better to place the tax on the producers of bags instead. or we could just reuse the plastic bags like i try to do, so that i don't just waste them. you can uses them for many things after all
This is a great idea. People hate when money is taken away from them. Taxes as a punishment for bad habits would provide an incentive for people not to do things that are harmful to them or to others. Adapting to new behaviors could be a pain at first but in time things would get better.
Isn't a reprimanding tax merely a fine? If society deems X unfit for society, then the logical solution would be to remove such a problem from the society. However, a tax does not even outlaw the product. This has multiple reprehensible effects. First, this provides for a double standard within the society telling citizens that the action, ownership or use of a product, etc. is universally bad but removing bad things is not good, contradicting all logic when forming morals. Second, this makes money the true arbiter when acting on justice but excludes many scenarios in which society would be harmed even further. For example, if the society in question were to deem that a legal, but very addictive drug were harmful to society and then tax it without providing any help for those who use the societally harmful substance, the citizen be at an even greater loss as they would now be charged for a clinical problem. Moreover, we learned in class that the taxing of cigarettes in the U.S. is often dubbed to be stemming from virtuous intentions of helping society, but actually exists to help the government profit on the inelastic good, meaning that the tax has nothing to do with helping society and further perpetuates the double messages being sent to citizens. Finally, this is far too grounded in the assumption that people may deem what is best for society. If something such as plastic bags are deemed harmful by some study, taxed , and then proven differently, the taxation was arbitrary and actually harmed society itself, counteracting the intent. Furthermore, if this is left open to the subjectivity of the populace to decide, then they could just as easily deem taxes harmful to the society or its current economic state, then the entire process is left unaffected. Thus, the plan is derived from decent motivation, but it must be modified so that society may prosper both philosophically and pragmatically.
Well, I think it's stupid that people are opposed to change simply because they think it would be too difficult. Plastic bags seem to be a random thing to tax, but I can see it having positive effects.
It is also ridiculous that we call this thing "unacceptable" as though it were some incredibly stupid effort. I think it has merit if everyone can jump on board.
But, are they going to give out cloth bags to poor people?
if they tax it, i think people will still use plastic so therefore environment doesnt get helped that much really. theres just more money spent and its not too much ne way. plastic has always been the easiest way.
Doesn't California already do this in some way? They banned plastic bags at grocery stores. If the Irish really wanted to help the earth they would ban it all together. The government just wants more tax money, which is a good thing though, more taxes make the country cleaner I think.
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