Conventional wisdom dictates that those goods which are said to cause harm or impose costs on
society deserve a special tax. For centuries governments have levied these sin taxes on
alcohol and tobacco but the list of taxable sins has now grown to include soda and marijuana
with calls to impose further taxes on plastic bags meat and even robots and carbon. Contrary
to what experts and policymakers tell us many of these alleged sins impose very little if any
cost on society and the harms that do exist can be minimized without resorting to tax. What
follows in this book is a discussion of four case studies-on tobacco marijuana alcohol and
soda-which make the case against the conventional wisdom in taxing these sins before
concluding that when it comes to taxing sin it is time for governments to forgive-and forget.
