Doubling the current US price of petrol, from $4 a gallon, to $8 by way of a tax, could bring about all sorts of benefits... if you can overlook the negatives first that is. Cheap gas is unfair. Driving creates huge social costs in the form of traffic, health-damaging pollution and global warming that aren't suffered solely by the person buying the gasoline. Governments usually set up idiotic systems ... Read full entry

The price of a packet of cigarettes has recently increased in New York, as the result of a city imposed tax. This has prompted New York blogger Jason Kottke to compare the cost of smoking, on an hourly basis, with other enjoyments in New York. Some smokers are understandably upset about the price but how does it compare to other enjoyments? If smoking a single cigarette takes five minutes and ... Read full entry

How to live forever. Soon there may only be but one certainty in life, taxes. The problem is though there would be no end to them as a result. "IN THE long run," as John Maynard Keynes observed, "we are all dead." True. But can the short run be elongated in a way that makes the long run longer? And if so, how, and at what cost? People have dreamt of ... Read full entry