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Consumers

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Ultimately the consumer is responsible for the cost of their own waste. Of course this is not only a matter of practicality since we all as consumers generate waste, but it is also a matter of economics. Any additional costs forced on manufacturers for the process of production and sale of their products will ultimately be filtered down to the consumer in the form of higher costs. The concept of imposing fees on manufactures is inefficient and ineffective for a number of reasons.

Each cost that is payable by the manufacture is sure to also have it's on taxes, fees, levies and government costs associated with it. This increases the costs to simply impose the penalty on a manufacture. This additional cost is then combined with the original fee on the manufacturer's side and becomes a detriment that must then be compensated for in order for the manufacture to recover a profit from their product. In the end the manufacturer is ultimately concerned with making a profit. They will not allow government regulation and fees result in a loss on a product. So the manufacturer in turn then passes this cost down to the consumer.

When the consumer makes their purchase the costs of the e-waste is now factored into the newly increased price of the product. This price is then taxed which results in more wasted money going to the government, which in turn requires more government overhead and expenditure. This is a cycle of productivity that has been part of our economy for decades now. It is a system that drives up the price on domestic goods and promotes the over inflation of the federal government, a necessary evil in order to manage all of the newly created streams of revenue as a result of the new regulation.

In the end the only real looser is the American consumer. We not only have to foot the bill for the e-waste fees as originally discussed, but also the taxes associated with these additional fees; sometimes double and triple taxes. We also must pay for the cost of the government overhead required to manage all of this new tax revenue. In the end we produce the same amount of waste, we still have landfills that are populated with dangerous heavy metals and the manufacturers still turn a profit while the consumers are left with a little less money in their wallet.

It would be much simpler for the government to simply charge the e-waste fee to the consumer in the first place. Since the consumer is going to pay this fee either way, either directly or indirectly doing so directly cuts out the entire over taxing and overhead by the government and will ultimately result in the consumer paying less for the fee than had it been indirectly charged to them through the trickle down manufacturing technique.

Learn more about this author, Joseph Whalen.
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