?
Акциз в Швеции: на страже морали или двойные стандарты?
This article deals with the issue of excise taxes and morality. Obviously, taxation has its moral aspects. The parliamentary majority for various reasons believe that certain items and services have to be reduced or disappear completely, and it is these that are taxed. In order to achieve such changes, excise taxes are imposed. Another aim is making the state richer. Double aims, income and changes in behaviour -- all this is hard to combine. For the Ministry of Finance, the income is a priority. Sometimes the state stimulates the activity on the one hand and imposes taxes on it on the other. Double morality is blossoming while taxes are being increased. An insufficiently grounded choice of the object of taxes makes the excise system morally doubtful, even if we as individuals may sympathise with non-material objectives declared by a certain tax. The choice of the object is not always explained by some logical arguments. We are able to trace the income from taxes, but it is usually difficult to indentify any clear change in behaviour caused by taxation. In this respect, excise taxes usually seem inefficient. Besides, any taxation contradicts the right of the owner. If excise taxes do not achieve their proclaimed idealistic aims, the moral foundation of excises is even more rickety. No matter how pious the ultimate aims are, they should not be used to justify such dubious means.