Final answer:
Social considerations can justify a range of tax provisions and government policies intended to promote environmental protection and support social welfare. Policies like allowing accelerated amortization for pollution control, credits for child care, and deductions for sales taxes are examples. Environmental charges, like gasoline taxes, can also serve to discourage pollution and fund infrastructure.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question revolves around the way social considerations can justify various tax provisions and government policies, particularly those that facilitate environmental protection and support social welfare. Social considerations support policies such as allowing accelerated amortization for the installation of pollution control facilities. This provides an incentive for firms with lower abatement costs to adopt cleaner technologies, while those with higher costs can choose to pay the tax. Policies such as the provision of credits for childcare expenses support social welfare by reducing the financial burden on families.
Furthermore, the ability to carry over capital losses or deduct state and local sales taxes can be justified on grounds of promoting investment or providing tax relief, respectively. Environmental taxes, like gasoline, serve both to discourage pollution and fund infrastructure, which are examples of pollution charges that are not explicitly labeled as such. Government intervention through market incentives, like selling pollution permits or paying fishermen to preserve salmon, are strategies designed to balance economic activity with environmental conservation.