h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tax is uppermost a device used by politicians for taking money from everyone and distributing it to the marginal electorates. We should all seek to be part of a marginal electorate by systematically voting against the incumbent.

True - it is also used to force people to act in a certain way without the hassle of introducing laws - hence the high taxation on cigarettes and alcohol.

Hmm I wonder. Perhaps the government is cashing in on something for which the demand is rather indifferent to price. I think that the term is demand inelastic? People who are addicted will pay whatever it takes. Gambling and, I suppose petrol are other examples.

But the problem is that, after introducing any tax, the government also gets addicted to the revenue that is then directed disproportionately to the marginal electorates.

As an aside, I sometimes wonder if people might pay more tax, more quickly, if they received a ticket in a million dollar/pound lottery for every dollar/pound of tax paid before a certain date.

There was a proposal to give a £50 tax rebate to every taxpayer that turned up at a polling station - kind of an inducement to vote.

We have compulsory voting in Australia and, by and large, no-one seems to mind. We still have some people voting after they have died. If they can make the effort to get to the polling booth....... well no-one else has an excuse!