alt Hacker NewsWhy not just tax the profits of the data companies?
If we start taxing data, why not tax any other underlying asset a company makes profits from?
Why not just tax the profits of the data companies?
If we start taxing data, why not tax any other underlying asset a company makes profits from?
Data is an unpriced natural resource. Your pabulum is already priced. We should, generally, tax extraction, because otherwise the externalities are imposed on the public for free. In the case of mining, that's e.g. resources taken from the future; in the case of data, that's privacy taken from the public.