Want Leisure ? Pay Tax First.

Today in my Public Econs class, we discussed about the distortionary effects of taxes, income tax in a way is bad for people is because it forces people to substitute away from their original consumption-leisure bundle, hence lowering utility. Taxes sometimes reduce the incentives to work amongst workers as well.

So, instead of taxing income, the ideal situation in the world for taxation is one where we can tax LEISURE. The logic being when leisure is taxed, cost of leisure is higher and there is hence more incentive to work. More incentive to work, at the same time MORE MONEY for marrow-guzzling government.

But the problem becomes, HOW TO TAX LEISURE? How can we tax the amount of sleep people have, the TV programs they watch? Ahhhh...Don't despair, for u can always count on geeky economists to devise alternative policies to suck people's marrow. " We can always tax leisure related products!" my professor continued. " For sleep, we can tax pillows and beds (* Gasp * the whole class laughed out loud, imagine having to pay higher taxes for a KingCoil matress because it is more springy and nicer to sleep on=more satisfaction, hee :) ), for swimming, we can tax swimming suits (trust me, economists r a bit cuckoo in the heads), for golfing, we can tax golf membership!"

In fact my prof only meant it as a joke, although by theory it is a workable plan, she herself was rather amused by the idea too ; meanwhile all of us tried to imagine what it means in perpective having to pay for sofa tax, video games tax, internet tax...Holy moley, we know we can't avoid taxes and death in our lifetime but we'd rather u kill us now.

" Do u know what is ONE leisure that cannot be taxed?" Prof Chia jabbed our brains with one last point to think about before letting us go, a mischievous twinkle dancing in her eyes.

* Everyone scratched their heads to think*

"Nude sunbathing". Was the answer. The whole class burst out laughing.

PS: Others i can think of: Stoning or Daydreaming(have to be standing, or else they can tax the chair remember?! wuahaha) , Skinny-dipping in the sea, Gossiping...
Can u think of any? Haha.