Profits obtained under cover of patents should be taxed higher than those obtained when competing in the nude

Sir, Rana Foroohar writes about the clear ‘you can’t have the cookie and eat it too’ conflicts present in the area of protection of intellectual rights. “A better patent system will spur innovation” September 4.

In 2008, trying to build a bridge that could resolve some issues, I ended an Op-Ed with a proposal of introducing a special tax on all profits generated under the cover of any IPR, for instance a patent.

As I have since repeated many times, it is not logical the same tax rate applies to profits obtained when competing naked in the market, than when the profits are obtained under the cover of a protection.

Such tax should, as a minimum minimorum, at least cover all costs for society of awarding and enforcing IPR protections.

Nowadays I would also argue that tax should also be a source of funding for a Universal Basic Income. That because, most or even all of these protections, truth be told, are sort of unfairly awarded to whoever runs the last leg of a relay that has been run, with ingenuity, creativity and strenuous efforts, by generations of humans.

@PerKurowski