Quote:
Originally Posted by wizwor
It's a tax policy problem. If you want manufacturers to make things which are more likely to be repaired, you need to change the tax structure. For instance, eliminate the income tax in favor of a sales tax with used items exempt. That created a huge incentive to buy used and/or repair. Recoup 100% of the recycle cost as the point of sale.
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This is probably getting too far off topic, and deviling perilously close to politics, so feel free to reply privately, but I think the idea of shifting all the tax burden to a sales tax on new goods is antithetical to the idea of making goods repairable, so they last longer, so you don't have to buy new ones nearly as often.
Yes, it would keep stuff out of landfills, and give people the choice of old, cheap, but working stuff rather than new, cheap, poor quality stuff, but that would depend on the buyers of the new stuff ever-more frequently upgrading and replacing their stuff.
I guess it depends on the goal.