I agree with most all of what you said, particularly when you agree with me. Joking aside, I don't see how transparency would cause a company to stop innovating. What would be the disincentive? That is really an honest question. I'm not so egotistical that I can't admit my biases might be blinding me to something obvious.

One could argue that with a more level playing field regarding prices, innovation would be spurred because it would be how a company can differentiate from its rivals.

That being said, we both agree that the compliance costs would be an issue. It is true that input costs can be pulled from tax records for public companies, but having info available somewhere (in some language) is not the same as having it transparently presented for comparison.