This is an absurd attitude. Most human activities have externalities, from farming to driving to playing music to hiking to having the lights on.
Things with externalities should ideally have the beneficiaries be made to pay for those externalities, or if that's not practical, have them measured as best we can and a sin tax imposed.
That's such a simplistic attitude. Piguvian taxes aren't magic. And a sin tax doesn't help the people who live close to the airport.
Yeah great you have terrible living situation but at least the government has money for new F-35s.
And the reason this isn't done is because very often you couldn't pay those things in the first place. So companies that depend on not paying them will just lobby it away or die.
Sometimes its better to just make it illegal so no company actually starts depending on these things.
OK, sure, maybe make some things illegal if your government is incapable of spending money well, but you definitely need to weigh the pros and cons in that case, not impose a blanket ban on anything with a negative externality!
This is an absurd attitude. Most human activities have externalities, from farming to driving to playing music to hiking to having the lights on.
Things with externalities should ideally have the beneficiaries be made to pay for those externalities, or if that's not practical, have them measured as best we can and a sin tax imposed.