It is common amongst politicians
and economists to suggest that we
should tax bad things and subsidise
good things. It is on these grounds
that, for example, we have sugar
taxes and cigarette taxes. The justification for taxing “bads” becomes
stronger if the ill effects are felt
more widely through society and not
just by the consumers.
Anybody looking at our tax system,
with this principle in mind, might
well conclude that our political class
believes that families with two parents, and those families where one
parent works part time or works entirely in the home bringing up children or looking after ageing parents,
were a very bad thing. After all, we
strongly penalise such arrangements
in our tax and welfare systems.