Pigouvian Taxes

The Tax Foundation, a "nonpartisan" tax research group, don't like the plastax, saying "Policymakers have a myriad of other tools at their disposal for dealing with environmental issues". They don't like that plastaxes veer from the original purpose of the tax system, to generate revenue for government operations. I guess the free market is supposed to solve all. Ha.

December 15, 2006
Cleaning up the Environment Without Polluting the Tax Code
by Alicia Hansen, Tax Foundation Blog, Washington DC

There has been much talk lately of Pigouvian taxes, or taxes imposed on certain goods to counteract or prevent the damage to society caused by production or consumption of those goods. Pigouvian taxes are frequently advocated as a solution to environmental problems.
An example is the PlasTax, a tax imposed on plastic bags to reduce consumption and thereby prevent environmental damage caused by the manufacture and disposal of the bags....