STATUS: we're not using a consumer tax. where's our new tax plan?
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INCOMPLETE
When a tax is placed on fish, a group of people will be paying money to cover the social environmental costs of fishing that is not included on the market price for fish. Levying a tax on fish can serve additional purposes. Taxing fishermen can limit the amount they can catch before it becomes economically unprofitable, essentially serving the same purpose as a quota. Taxing will also help decrease the demand for fish, which in turn will reduce the amount of fish that needs to be caught.
Establishing a fish tax will put the cost of depleting fisheries on the consumer. Similar to gasoline tax and cigarette taxes, an excise tax on fish will increase the cost of any fish products sold on the market. Currently there is a very high demand for fish, and if we are to keep a sustainable global fish population, we cannot catch the number of fish needed to meet this demand. An increase in fish prices will not only discourage consumers from buying more fish, thus lowering the demand, but it will make them aware of the crisis in our oceans today. Though this will make it so the lower class will have difficulty affording fish, in America and other developed countries, there are other protein options available, and fish prices will have little negative effect on public health. This taxing scheme would not be applicable in developing nations.-