Comment by asoneth

> I worry about "tax thing I don't like" policies

Equating "things I don't like" with "negative externalities" does not seem like a helpful framing for this discussion. I personally like traveling around the world and eating avocados, but they have substantial negative externalities. I personally dislike watching ballet or eating mushrooms, but they have minimal negative externalities.

Advertising may very well be something that the author dislikes AND that has negative externalities, but the point of a Pigovian tax is solely to apply a price commensurate with negative externalities, not the dislike.

> you to some extent want that activity to occur otherwise you've got budget issues

Perhaps, which is why he mentions "freebates", and why I find revenue-neutral Pigovian proposals like the "carbon-fee-and-dividend" so compelling. The primary purpose is not revenue, it is to ensure the correct price on negative externalities so society can rely on a free market to solve tricky allocation problems.