Say no to Pigou

Financial Post editor Terence Corcoran has set up a blog call the "No Pigou Club," that's worth checking out.

And no Pigou is not some cute barnyard character from Winnie the Pooh.

Arthur Pigou, was in fact, a British economist whose chief claim to fame is that he came up with the idea that governments should uses taxes to mold human behaviour.

So it's thanks to Pigou that all the vices we enjoy so much are usually taxed to the hilt.

Anyway, supporters of "Pigonomics" are now clamouring for new taxes on gasoline to help stop "global warming."

Corcoran uses his blog to argue that such a carbon tax will just mean bigger and more costly government.

And that's the way it is with all Pigou-style taxes.