IMPLICIT COST: An opportunity cost that does NOT involve a money payment or a market transaction. This should be contrasted with explicit cost that DOES involve a money payment or a market transaction. The common misconception among non-economists out there in the real world is that the term "cost" is synonymous with the term "payment," that is, all costs are explicit costs, to be a cost you have to give up some money. Well, I'm here to tell you that this isn't true. Cost is opportunity cost. It's the satisfaction NOT received from activities NOT pursued. It's the value of foregone production. And not all opportunity costs involve a money payment.

     See also | opportunity cost | money | market | explicit cost | normal profit | accounting cost | economic cost | scarcity |

IMPLICIT COST, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2019. [Accessed: May 25, 2019].

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The primary reason that governments collect taxes from members of society is to finance government operations and provide public goods. However, taxes also create disincentives to engage in the taxed activity, which causes a change in the allocation of resources. This two consequences of taxes are summarized in two essential tax effects -- the revenue effect and the allocation effect. While all taxes have both, the key to effective government is minimize the allocation effect if the goal is to generate revenue and to minimize the revenue effect if the goal is to change the allocation of resources.

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