Why Foie Gras Is So Expensive

[The Lawspeaker]

At French restaurants, a single appetizer of foie gras can cost more than a main course — but why? Ducks and geese used for foie gras are expensive to raise, and animal rights activists have supply on lockdown.

[The Lawspeaker]

I actually believe that the actual main answer in why certain things are so expensive are in the sumptuary taxes imposed by the government in the form of VAT and excise duties. Now, if the money would be spent well, I really wouldn't have a problem with moderate taxation but the level of taxation is no longer moderate and the money is wasted. Take petrol, for example, in my country (the Netherlands) 66 percent (as was measured in 2013 by KRO de Rekenkamer) of your petrol bill is taxation so of your 1.67€ per litre paid at the pump 1.10€ goes to the government (the money doesn't really go directly to road maintenance and construction like in the past but goes in the "big jar") so let's assume that your plate of foie gras costs you 25€ - with a VAT rate of 21 percent, 5.25€ goes to the government. We can argue, of course, that the money is spent on good things. I would argue that the government has long since privatised its core tasks and is wasting the money it receives in all sorts of subsidies for migrants and special interest groups. In other words: let no man pay for services not rendered.