Smuggling, enforcement costs and the limits of taxation

Steve draws on his work in a British revenue department to describe the tradeoff between higher consumption duties and increased evasion or smuggling. Cornish smuggling and coastal watchers provide the historical comparison, including violence against customs officers. He also argues that enforcement can more than pay for itself, quoting an approximate return of twelve pounds in revenue for each pound spent on an officer. That figure is his claim in the conversation and is not established here as a universal rate. Higher taxes, enforcement costs and taxpayers' ability to leave all constrain how much revenue a government can collect. Norway's oil-funded sovereign wealth fund is then offered as an example of saving another source of public income for the period after oil revenues end.