To stamp it out, or at least to make it less fun, he wants to impose a progressive tax on household expenditure: the more you spend, the more you pay.

ECONOMIST: Spending and happiness

Oil and gas industry leaders have welcomed a move by Chancellor George Osborne to clarify tax relief on decommissioning expenditure.

BBC: North Sea decommissioning tax relief move welcomed

It is determined to clean up public finances and is focusing the budget more on expenditure than tax increases, he said.

FORBES: European Economy

This is exactly the period when the government of the day was near doubling expenditure on the tax financed health care system.

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It appears fair to say that an increase in total government size of ten percentage points in tax revenue or expenditure as a share of GDP is on average associated with an annual lower growth rate of between one-half and one percentage point.

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Job and wealth losses have compressed tax revenues, and stimulus spending has padded the numbers on the expenditure side.

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However, as the Cato Institute studies related to state tax and expenditure limitations across many states have shown, tighter controls on state policymakers may still be needed.

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If oil and gas tax has to fill the gap between other tax and expenditure, it requires some large-scale contingency planning in case it doesn't deliver on forecast.

BBC: Balance of payments

One frequent argument for legalization is that it will generate a fiscal windfall by reducing expenditure on marijuana arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration and by allowing the state to collect tax revenue on legalized sales.

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