On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Jim Devine<[email protected]> wrote:
> "Miracle" Max Sawicky wrote:
>> GM has been beating the drums for Pigou taxes for a long time. ...
>
> I thought GM was bankrupt.

GM the firm, I guess. About GM the economist, my view is he makes
weasels hide their heads in shame.

>> In general the assumption that the VAT and similar taxes are passed to
>> the consumer I think are exaggerated.  To be sure some of the burden
>> shows up in prices, but there is evidence of incomplete 'ratification' of
>> the VAT in price increases, which means some of it is shifted backwards.
>> So the regressiveness of green taxes may be somewhat less than
>> supposed.
>
> might a VAT be passed backward to the workers who produced the items
> being taxed?

Yup, though in distribution analysis a consumption tax is way more
regressive than a wage tax.

>
> anyway, isn't the regressivity of green taxes supposed to be
> compensated for by refundable tax credits for the poor or something
> like that?

Depends on who is proposing them.  Everybody has their own idea about
what to do with the money.
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