re: #229 sattv4u2

I’m sorry, this is not true. Companies sell products at the optimal price point—disregarding other factors like luring customers in by having them by a platform, etc.. That price point is not simply “production cost +X” (and taxes function as just another production cost) but instead the optimal price point based on how many people will buy it and what the profit margin will be.

If it costs your company ten cents to make a napkin, and you can sell a hundred at $1 a piece, but ten thousand at twenty cents apiece (assuming production costs stay the same) then it makes sense to sell them at twenty cents apiece

If your production cost rises, the price point may shift around, or it may not— it depends how elastic your market is. If you and a competitor are both selling napkins at twenty cents, and your production costs rise by a cent per item because of a tax, you have a choice; you can raise your prices, or you can let your profits erode a little bit. Your competitor has the same choice.

re: #229 sattv4u2

For public transport, I was actually talking about the economic benefits to other businesses. Having public transport is a good thing for businesses depending on the lower wage workers in the income pool, and it makes it easier for them to pay them lower wages, as well.