Government incentive for repairs

[vexed87]

Thought I might share this semi relevant and interesting article here, the Swedish government plan to incentivise indivudals to choose to repair and maintain, rather than replace items.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37419042

I'm not sure it will change behaviour much, because there's still no disincentive for further material consumption, and buying new may still be simpler for some, but the idea is interesting nonetheless.

[Dragline]

Interesting idea -- I will be curious to see how it pans out.

[BRUTE]

isn't a large part of the current economy built on consumerism? brute knows nothing about the swedish economy, but is pretty sure every lobby in the US would lobby against such a proposal. wastefulness is how they make money. nobody NEEDS any of that shit.

[jacob]

Well, it's VAT based, so it's not a tax rebate as much as it's just a consumer discount. Countries often offer different VAT levels for different goods to nudge consumption patterns, e.g. a high one for computers and a low one for food. What happened here was that Sweden lowered it for repair services by 13%. (In normal countries, the list price includes taxes ... it's not added at the point of sale.) The overall cost of this policy to the average Swede is ~$3/person/year ... so practically immaterial except to what must be a very small number of people in the repair business. Take $3/13% to get an average impact of $23 worth of goods getting repaired every year.

From an ERE perspective, I think my DIY repair/maintenance efforts vastly exceed that number.

[Ego]

My new pricing structure. Everything costs 1¢. All items require repair. Repair prices vary.

[enigmaT120]

My new pricing structure. Everything costs 1¢. All items require repair. Repair prices vary.

I thought your stuff was free, not one cent.

Almost makes me want to buy an apartment complex, or what ever it is you have.

[oldbeyond]

Given our high income and payroll taxes coupled with relatively free trade, we're still disincentivising compared to most other countries. National media ran an example were a bike repair would cost 896 SEK after the cut versus 1000 before. A new(crap) bike can be had for 2000 SEK. The cheapest way to fix your toaster is to have a chinese ex-peasant make you a new one.

Alternative tax code arrangements are interesting though. A few economists around here support raising taxes on stuff(i.e the "normal" VAT rate that applies to everything apart from the multitude of exceptions) while lovering the income tax. The question is if you would see material results before smuggling became a major issue. There's also a raised tax on electronics to offset the negative externality of electronic waste(I think it worked out to around $40 for a normal TV set). Of course, no lowered income taxes but still.