Things that are enjoyable are often also likely to be status symbols:

https://stefanfschubert.com/blog/2022/4/6/status-as-a-multiplier-on-intrinsic-enjoyment

In my experience far from always true: the status seems to persist much longer than the enjoyment - but still, it's an interesting argument for...

... why high sales taxes are likely to be an actually not-that-inefficient form of taxation. I can't find it anymore but I saw a result once suggesting that, taking status effects into account, the optimal sales tax might be around 40%.

The problem with sales taxes — no matter how theoretically efficient — is that they land in the coffers of inefficient spenders (bureaucrats)

building /bracket | hosting /greatbooks + /gray | ex-BCG, ex-PHD | poli + phil + econ

Yes but I was pushing back on the specific point of the study which concluded that a 40% sales tax rate could be “optimal”

Such a large number would only be “optimal” if assuming that a very large Gov budget is an objective?

I’m challenging that assumption bc of core principal-agent problem in Gov spending

This is why I favor Democratic confederalism and fully recallable delegates determining budgets instead of appointed lifetime bureaucrats.