About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of sin taxes on societal behavior, focusing on Anchorage's experience with cannabis taxation and its unintended consequences.

How do you combat something that you feel is bad for society? We dream up a lot of ways to do that, and sometimes it works better than it was ever intended. Officials in Anchorage, Alaska started levying a 5% tax on cannabis products. Officials announced recently a $462,000 budget shortfall due to residents buying less weed. Often times, these things are referred to as “sin taxes,” they are meant to discourage harmful behavior. I think Anchorage has discovered that it does work. What “sin cha...

People in this episode

Host: John Ed Mathison

Topics covered

• sin taxes
• cannabis
• societal behavior
• budget shortfall
• Alaska

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: cannabis products

Places: Anchorage, Alaska

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