It disproportionately targets people who are poor and directly ties how much risk you can take on to how much disposable income you are able to leverage. This doesn’t seem particularly just, especially considering these are the people who have been most disadvantaged by coronavirus so far.
Big taxes like this can be used in a myriad of ways, but whether they ever are used in those ways is another question entirely. That’s just not typically how modern governments handle tax revenue. And are the things you list really not done simply because we don’t have the money? I don’t think so.
You’re placing a big inefficiency on industries already operating at fairly small margins in dire straits. The live music industry does not need any more weight on its back, it’s already broken at this point. Many pubs and restaurants are only barely hanging on. If your intention is to drive the final nail into the coffin of many of these industries, this is a good way to do so.
People are strongly incentivised under this scheme to obfuscate, minimise or completely hide their social gatherings. When you force people away from things like nightclubs, pubs, bars, or festivals you just shift that activity into a gray area. People still act and organise to fulfill their social needs, and they’re always going to be better at getting around any monitoring you build than you will be at building it.
This idea seems like it has several large issues:
It disproportionately targets people who are poor and directly ties how much risk you can take on to how much disposable income you are able to leverage. This doesn’t seem particularly just, especially considering these are the people who have been most disadvantaged by coronavirus so far.
Big taxes like this can be used in a myriad of ways, but whether they ever are used in those ways is another question entirely. That’s just not typically how modern governments handle tax revenue. And are the things you list really not done simply because we don’t have the money? I don’t think so.
You’re placing a big inefficiency on industries already operating at fairly small margins in dire straits. The live music industry does not need any more weight on its back, it’s already broken at this point. Many pubs and restaurants are only barely hanging on. If your intention is to drive the final nail into the coffin of many of these industries, this is a good way to do so.
People are strongly incentivised under this scheme to obfuscate, minimise or completely hide their social gatherings. When you force people away from things like nightclubs, pubs, bars, or festivals you just shift that activity into a gray area. People still act and organise to fulfill their social needs, and they’re always going to be better at getting around any monitoring you build than you will be at building it.
I am not saying it needs to be a tax.