I suppose their philosophy is that the people who use the stats should pay more than the people who’d have no use for it, but then aren’t we fostering a system where we’re only gathering the stats people have a vested interest in? The idea of a government-run public statistics bureau is that they collect, analyze and distribute data that benefits our understanding of the nation. I think putting up a monetary wall, however cheap, actually hinders a lot of the constituents who’d otherwise find the data interesting or useful.

That being said, there’s a lot of general summary tables available for free, so I can’t complain much. If I really needed to have detailed numbers on Softwood Toothpick Production it’d probably be worth the $3 to me.

As an aside, I hate the brutally inappropriate government “Common Look & Feel” design they’re trying to force on the site. But that’s a rant for another day.