These were called branch store taxes. The tax increased as the number of branches in the chain increased. The legislatures knew that the bigger the chain, the more removed the owner was from the customer and the worker and the more power the owner could exercise. The branch store tax was a modest attempt to penalize concentrated power. Price and Cost Finally, let me offer a set of rules that strikes at the heart of the free market system.
Market economies work best when the prices accurately reflect the full costs of goods and services.
But today the price we pay for goods and services often understates the real costs of getting our products to us. Consider the cost of our transportation system. Today both political parties are telling us that one of the most important issues today is repealing the 4.3 cent federal gas tax. I propose that we not only repeal this tax but that we repeal all state and federal gas taxes and replace them with a financing system that requires cars and trucks to pay their own way. Far from it.