Are Taxes Ever Paid by Other Than Taxpayers?

asks the Tax Prof, after reading Roth & Company‘s post on Volokh‘s post.

What Volokh noticed (and the NYT didn’t) is that with the Superfund,

The money in Superfund always came from “taxpayers” — that is, it has always come from those paying taxes. One might have thought the Times editors would have caught a line discussing taxes that are not paid by taxpayers

Additionally, Volokh explains that the Superfund

was a tax on chemical feedstocks, not on pollution — and it taxed polluters and non-polluters alike. A company’s tax liability was a function of the volume of taxed substances it used, not the amount of pollution it caused. Thus, a company that used high volumes of taxed substances, but had an exemplary environmental record would pay more than a company that (mis)used far less material and caused more environmental harm. Thus, despite its billing, the Superfund tax was never a “polluter pays” program.

Speaking of Volokh, who’s an expert on constitutional law, Scott’s been having a good time corresponding with an op-ed guy from the UK’s Independent named Terrence Blacker “who decided that the professional details of the blogger [Volokh] who wrote as an opinion columnist in the New York Times were not relevant”; Or should I say, Volokh’s professional expertise wasn’t convenient for Blacker’s purpose(s).