Comment by Oceanlab on How should negative externalities be handled? (Warning: politics) · 2013-05-09T06:37:24.639Z · LW · GW

"It's not a good use of resources for everyone to be educated, and subsidizing it wastes money just as surely as subsidizing corn."

Corn doesn't come with positive externalities, education does. Subsidizing education is surely one of the best uses of government revenue imaginable. The "how" of it is a different matter. I'm not a fan of public school monopolization of education subsidies.

As a general rule, it is efficient and wise to tax negative externalities and subsidize positive externalities. This should be the primary function of tax policy.