The Quebec government recently proposed a tax on the unvaccinated. Their reasoning is that the Covid crisis is being exacerbated because so many people are refusing the vaccine. In Canada, health care is publicly funded so the extra costs associated with the flood of mostly unvaccinated people into hospitals must be borne by all taxpayers, so anyone who willingly contributes to that extra cost should be penalized.
The main argument against this is that adding that tax flies in the face of universal health care. After all, we don't penalize people who engage in high risk activities like skydiving, rock climbing, or downhill skiing.
My viewpoint is that this is a false equivalence. Generally speaking, engaging in these high risk activities does not pose a danger to others, whereas refusing a vaccine almost certainly contributes to the spread of Covid. We already penalize people for not wearing a seatbelt, although that penalty comes in the form of a fine rather than a tax. That is pretty much just a semantic difference.
Perhaps they should try the carrot instead of the stick. Give everyone who gets vaccinated a cash bonus. No vaccine - no bonus. This avoids the tax conundrum and does not violate universality.
Thoughts?
