Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Who pays the tax?
Who pays the tax?
Dec 11, 2025 4:52 PM

Note: This is the eleventhpost in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics.

Who bears the burden of a tax, the buyer or the seller? Or what about the health insurance mandate in Obamacare—does the employer or the worker pay the tax? In this video, Marginal Revolution University examines these questions and explains why the more elastic side of the market tends to pay a smaller share of a tax.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Previous in series:How to read a supply curve

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The Untouchable
Today marks the birthday of Eliot Ness, Prohibition Agent for the Department of Treasury-Chicago. Ness was made famous for bringing down Al Capone. The story was loosely portrayed in the movie The Untouchables, starring Kevin Costner as Ness. And on a related note, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision ruling that buying liquor does not violate the Constitution (May 26). In his occasional paper on the sin tax, Rev. Robert Sirico writes, “The sin tax...
Wholphin watch
Hot on the trail of chimeras as a service to you, dear reader, I pass along this story about the offspring of a dolphin and a whale. Apparently these so-called “wholphins” have been found in the wild. Wholphins, as whale-dolphin hybrids, are a less-famous form of chimera than more famous ligers (mules are the most famous). According to Napoleon Dynamite, a liger is “pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed. Bred for its skills...
Too much transparency
The incongruence of a culture that insists on knowledge of every detail about charity donations and yet puts no value on a disabled woman’s life is frankly mind-boggling. But let’s move beyond value of human life and focus on the importance of telling the truth and being honest. Stanley Carlson-Thies, formerly of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, makes a superb point that like too much of any good thing, too much transparency just might “turn” on...
Ignoring Centesimus Annus
A defense of Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus Annus. For example, On Globalization The Claim: “John Paul II . . . thinks that capitalism goes way too far and results in oppression of people in the developing world. So economic redistribution would be a very radical position . . .” Lisa Sowle Cahill, professor of theology at Boston College. Centesimus Annus Says: “Today we are facing the so-called ‘globalization’ of the economy, a phenomenon which is not to be dismissed,...
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI
God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Ignatius Press, 2002 Comments by Dr. Samuel Gregg: As Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has demonstrated again and again that he is one of the world’s leading theologians. In this extended interview with the renowned German journalist, Peter Seewald, we are given an insight into Ratzinger’s thought on a range of topics fundamental to Christian belief. This includes profound...
A second renaissance?
Sunday’s Independent has three pieces on the recent application of technological advances to ancient manuscripts, which are making readable previously illegible manuscripts. According to the paper, “infra-red technology has enabled hundreds of ancient edies, tragedies and epic posed by classical greats such as Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod, to be deciphered for the first time in 2,000 years.” Also thought to be contained in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri are early copies of Christian texts, possibly including gospel accounts. Examples of the classical...
Would you like a tax with those fries?
On this date in 1955, Ray Kroc starts the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants in Illinois. On a related note, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is the latest political figure to float the idea of a “fast food tax,” the newest incarnation of the “sin” tax. The reasoning is that fast foods, which tend to be higher in fat and cholesterol than other types of food, are unhealthy, and therefore worthy of special government attention. The Detroit Free Press editorial...
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
If looking for an exposition of the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy when applied to wealth and the size of government in the United States, you can find it in this speech, “The State Expands, and Weakens,” given by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, to a free-market businessmen’s group in Okemos, Michigan, on April 16, 2005. HT: Mises Economics Blog ...
The extent of European antipathy towards Christianity
After Pope John Paul II’s death on April 2, the European Parliament was torn over a “difficult” decision – whether to lower the flags of the European Institution to half-mast. It seems that some members thought it was inappropriate to honor one of the most pro-European statesmen who ever lived with such a simple gesture. Eventually, they came to their senses and agreed to do so. Now it seems that the Polish members of the Euro Parliament have bit off...
New government to form in Italy
Following the resignation of a number of ministers, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi “plans to resign to form a new government, bowing to an ally’s demands for change after losing 11 out of 13 regional elections two weeks ago,” according to a Bloomberg report. One of the ministers who resigned on April 15, Rocco Buttiglione, is a member of the Acton Institute’s Board of Advisors. Mr. Buttiglione received the Faith & Freedom Award from the institute after withdrawing his nomination...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved