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Should taxation be about negative externalities? What if we made taxes about accounting the true cost of companies’ actions rather than “raising revenue?”

Economics 101 concept: negative externalities are the cost to society or a third party of a party’s actions. It’s borne by everyone, not just who caused it.

There are many taxes already proposed or implemented along these lines: carbon tax, tobacco tax, etc. I also think land value tax fits a similar mold. If you take the perspective that the world is the common heritage of mankind, then private use of land detracts value from society’s “portfolio.”