A tax on high heels?
High heels can exert a heavy toll on the body, and are often uncomfortable and unsafe. Should they be taxed?
High heels can exert a heavy toll on the body, and are often uncomfortable and unsafe. Should they be taxed?
Among my idiosyncracies are two footwear anti-fetishes: I hate flip flops and high heels. I have never mastered the dark art of walking in flip flops, and I have always been troubled聽when women teeter at the edge of falling because of聽shoes聽designed for fashion (allegedly) rather than function.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed Thursday鈥檚 Wall Street Journal聽piece about the engineering, some would say聽architecture, of contemporary high heels.聽I was also聽pleased that columnist聽Christina Binkley聽emphasized some of the negatives early in her piece:
That 鈥渁rms race鈥� comment got me to thinking. Perhaps there鈥檚 an externality here? Are women trying to be taller than other women? If Betty has 2 inch heels, does that mean聽Veronica聽wants 2 and a half inch heels? And that Betty will then want 3 inch heels? If so,聽high heels are an example of the kind of pointless competition that Robert Frank highlights in his recent book, 鈥淭he Darwin Economy鈥�. As noted in the book description:
Hence today鈥檚 question: Are high heels an example of聽such misguided competition? If so, should we tax them? (Bonus question: Should we tax noisy flip flops?)
P.S. The book description is not correct about the absence of 鈥減ainful sacrifice.鈥� Someone聽out there will still purchase聽such goods (otherwise there would be no revenue to聽鈥漞liminate government debt鈥�), and there鈥檚 a good chance they will view聽their tax payments as a sacrifice.