Do You Think There Is A World Wide Plot To Move People Onto Public Transport And Away From Cars?

I bloody wish!

Cheers

 

It's not that simple, markets require a legal and regulatory framework to operate at all, so a tax who's goal is to price in externalities that are difficult or impossible to be managed otherwise (such as greenhouse gas emissions) can be considered part of the legal framework that allows for a market to run efficiently.

 

There's rather a difference between the King placing an official in the market to ensure the butcher is selling honest weight, the baker isn't mixing in sawdust, and the brewer isn't watering his beer, and the King setting price controls for all of them.