Getting Tricky

I feel almost a detached hatred for the Drug companies, especially after reading this article from Maxine Udall. Maybe it comes from even earlier, after none of them offered me a Job after college like they did my Cousin. The persistence of the residual anger and resentment, like most medical conditions, has been festering for years; I doubt that it is set to explode, though there are Those who would consider this Post the explosion itself. We shall see–We shall see!

I have always been a Tax economist, as far as philosophy, even if Everyone would question my training. This means that if it need fixing, then find an abusive tax for it. It might amuse some economists, though it generally arouses anger among business personnel. The goal is to make the Drug companies act nicer, even if they are Predators in Heat. You younger Readers should ignore that last comment. We’ll just assert that We must come up with a form of taxation which will make Drug companies good citizens and responsible people.

It is easy enough for the IRS to come up with an Average Price per Drug dosage in this Country. It requires an estimate of the average dosages given in this Country, and the total Cost of those dosages in this Country; it is immaterial for this estimate to determine whether those dosages were administered or not–though administration does affect the Drug Cost. You simply divide this Total Cost by the number of dosages to get the Average Cost per dosage; it is immediately apparent that Drug companies will protest the effort due to the cost of Drug administration, which will skew the assessment, but it is equally apparent that leaving out administered dosages would be too much reduction, and who likes Drug companies anyway. We next have to get Congress to ignore their political contributions, and pass an effective taxation; which will likely kill any attempt at reform. The basic law would be simple in design: Profits for Sale of dosages less than the Average Cost would be taxed at the current rate of taxation, while Profits from Sale of dosages above the Average Cost per dosage would be taxed at a rate some 10% higher than their current taxation. It is certain that there is a minimum Cost past which Drug companies would be willing to pay the higher taxation, but what the hell; it still would be an effective control upon Drug Costs in the Short Run. lgl