The UnCola
New York's Governor David Paterson wishes to institute a budget booster in taxing non-diet soft-drinks to the tune of 15%. There are so many ramifications to this proposal, that the mind reels.
First, we all know that taxes are a slippery slope. Yesterday, the illegalisation of trans-fat; today, regular Coke gets taxed; tomorrow, sugar may require a special license?
Second, taxing goods because they are bad for you is one of those nightmare scenarios hated by most conservatives and Libertarians -- it is State intrusiveness run amok.
Third, do you know who will be hit hardest by any tax on regular soft-drinks? The poor, especially blacks, Hispanics, and newly-arrived immigrants. It certainly won't be the Park Avenue matron who subsists on lettuce and Evian, or the pilates-obsessed suburbanite who hasn't drunk a Mountain Dew since 1979.
But, of course, the underlying message of this tax is that citizens have shown themselves disgraceful enough to be fat, and to continue their intake of unhealthy foods despite all reason telling them otherwise.
No economic crisis is without its inherent peril, but the most awful peril that it brings is the opportunity it gives those to benefit by it.
In California, with an overtaxed economy desperately trying to inject moneys into the system, it was the car tax. In New York, will it be the Coke tax?
First, we all know that taxes are a slippery slope. Yesterday, the illegalisation of trans-fat; today, regular Coke gets taxed; tomorrow, sugar may require a special license?
Second, taxing goods because they are bad for you is one of those nightmare scenarios hated by most conservatives and Libertarians -- it is State intrusiveness run amok.
Third, do you know who will be hit hardest by any tax on regular soft-drinks? The poor, especially blacks, Hispanics, and newly-arrived immigrants. It certainly won't be the Park Avenue matron who subsists on lettuce and Evian, or the pilates-obsessed suburbanite who hasn't drunk a Mountain Dew since 1979.
But, of course, the underlying message of this tax is that citizens have shown themselves disgraceful enough to be fat, and to continue their intake of unhealthy foods despite all reason telling them otherwise.
No economic crisis is without its inherent peril, but the most awful peril that it brings is the opportunity it gives those to benefit by it.
In California, with an overtaxed economy desperately trying to inject moneys into the system, it was the car tax. In New York, will it be the Coke tax?
Labels: Batsheet Craziness, Taxes
posted by vbspurs at
12/15/2008 11:27:00 am
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2 comments
