I strongly believe in "sin taxes" What do you think?

[divideandconquer]

You want to smoke, drink alcohol, do drugs, eat bad food, drink soda, have light firearms, go to prostitutes, get in tanning beds, it should all be OK with regulation and taxation equal to the economic costs to society.

[TwilightGardener]

1. OH boy!!

:popcorn:

[leftofcool]

32. pass the butter and diet coke please

[slackmaster]

2. You're talking about a shakedown for money, and not even for victimless crimes here

You're talking about private, personal choices that do no harm to anyone other than the person who indulges them, if at all.

Sin taxes are and have always been nothing but a way for government to extract money from people.

[verges]

9. Aren't all taxes..

"a way for government to extract money from people."

[slackmaster]

27. Usually taxes have some kind of rational connection to the activity or goods being taxed

For example, fuel taxes are generally used to support transportation infrastructure.

Taxing stuff just to support the activities of the taxing authority doesn't make economic sense, unless your goal is to create a larger government that doesn't do any more actual work.

[SunnySong]

72. So electric cars don't ride on pavement only gasoline vehicles?

Gee they must be magical....


Off snark you can see the slippery slope your are on all taxes tax a certain group over another.

[slackmaster]

75. That doesn't follow logically from what I wrote

:nuke:

[SunnySong]

79. Fuel taxes are becoming less efficent every year to fund roads...

since more cars on the road do not use fuel.


It would be like a tax on television tubes to fund PBS...


Narrow taxes have a way of becoming obsolete... thats all.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

73. "Shakedown". Interesting word, that. Seems to be in fashion. -nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. oh goody...another person who gets to 'decide' what 'sins'

are worthy of taxing...

sP

[ProgressiveProfessor]

42. D&C is good at that...

[davidinalameda]

4. if you want to make some serious money

start taxing fornicators, adulterers, kids that don't honor their mothers and fathers, people who don't keep holy the sabbath

there are hundreds if not thousands of other sins that we can tax

wonder if being a smart ass is among them

:evilgrin:

[LooseWilly]

38. And let's tax marriage, and church, and the rich, and the rich again, and the beautiful...

Let's charge people a 'use tax' for wearing pants, and wearing skirts, and wearing dresses... and a steep tax on ties.

Let's charge a 5000 % 'sin tax' on tie sales!! And loafers. And pumps.

And a 12000% tax on floral dresses!!

:evilgrin:

[davidinalameda]

63. ties I agree with

simply due to the fact that I haven't worn one in two years or so

floral dresses-amen to that!

and pantyhose

I can't imagine how women wear those things

but no tax on loafers

I have a great pair that my mom bought me in Italy-handmade black leather!

beautiful shoes

[virgogal]

5. Who decides what a "sin" is?

[verges]

13. The legislatures that pass the taxes.

You're elected representatives.

[Obamanaut]

21. Many of us are not elected representatives.

I'm sure you mean 'your'

[verges]

71. Quite correct. I'm sorry. It won't happen again.

(Damn grammar police/nazi)

[Freetradesucks]

66. That's the rub...

Who decides what's bad and what's super bad? Everything kills you...it's just a grab for extra taxes.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. -1

:eyes:

[w4rma]

7. It's better than throwing people in jail for doing them. Save jail and prison for real criminals.

Save police resources for investigating real criminals.

[divideandconquer]

18. People should pay for that part of the government they use

People who make unhealthy choices should pay for what their choices cost the healthcare system, criminal justice system and society in general. For example, gun owners should pay hospitals for taking care of shooting victims, soda drinkers should pay for anti diabetic programs, smokers should pay for cancer research, etc.

[county worker]

69. Please list what you use, I think you just might pay off the deficit with the taxes we raise on you

alone.

By the way, who does get to keep the money?

[Radical Activist]

8. Also, buying inefficient cars, building sprawl

and other activities that have a negative impact on society. I'm fine with them too.

[ret5hd]

14. What should the tax be for starting unnecessary wars?

[Individualist]

10. Unrec.

[Yuugal]

11. I'll consider it

Right after we go over every facet of your private life so I can tax the shit out of anything I don't like with yet another regressive tax. Try taxing the rich before you go after the working class and poor.

[Greyhound]

12. Well at least your name is apropos. n/t

:kick: & U

[MineralMan]

15. Oh, there's a good idea...

:sarcasm:

On the other hand, some sins would be good to tax, like avarice, greed, usury, and a few other like those. I notice that you didn't mention those.

[Dogmudgeon]

16. If there's a social cost, yes. Otherwise, no.

Smoking should be taxed, to pay for damage caused by smoking.

Sabbath-breaking? No.

Obesity? No. Obesity isn't a "sinful" behavior, it's a pathology, and some of it is not related to such "sin".

Same for AIDS.

"Bad food"? Who's to say what's bad? I don't go along with Kathy Freston and Dr. Mercola's idea of what "bad food" is. PeTA wants to put a tax on meat. There's also the point that necessities of life ought not be taxed.

--d!

[Warren Stupidity]

17. I think we should start with reverting the income tax code to pre-1980 rates.

And go back to using a major portion of the federal revenue to provide block grants to states so that the states are not endlessly in trouble trying to fund their services and forced into raising property taxes and sales taxes and their own income taxes to do so.

Once we get the federal tax code back in line, no I don't have a huge problem with 'sin' taxes.

[Bluebear]

19. Sin is a religious concept that has no place in government.

One man's sin is another's delight.

[divideandconquer]

22. Sin has been in government ever since there was government!

Oh my, how naive!

[Bluebear]

24. "Oh my, how naive!" - - oh my, how rude!

[Heidi]

29. Folks used to think earth was flat, too. (nt)

[Heidi]

20. Your morals shouldn't cost the rest of us one red cent. Maybe YOU be taxed

to offset the toll conventional morality has taken on humanity for more than 2,000 years.

[old mark]

23. I don't indulge in any of the above listed behaviors except: I own a lot of guns

and occasionally eat a pizza or an Italian sandwich.

Where can I apply for a refund?


mark

[Tejas]

47. That would fall under

an evility-tax. The eviler and scarier the gun, the higher your tax burden. The tax could be lighter though depending on how many are pink or some other non-scary color approved by the nannies.

:sarcasm: :rofl:

[old mark]

49. I have several sawed off shotguns and an evil SKS, and about 14 various

handguns...actually so many I don't remember the exact number right now.
They are all pretty evil, though...I guess I'll have to cut back on the pizzas to make up the difference.

I better get an accountant...


mark

[hedgehog]

25. OK as long as the sin involved is greed.....

:evilgrin:

[Ozymanithrax]

26. I see no problem with the government raising funds using taxes...

Consumption taxes, "sin taxes" tend to be regressive. Some of the items you mentioned would be difficult to define.

Cigarettes and alcohol are easy, and are taxed up the wazoo.

Drugs, unless you make their consumption legal, taxing them would be pointless.

Bad Food is a questionable item, a few things are obvious but many are not. Is too much salt taxed, or fat, calories?

As for a tax on handguns, the NRA would come at you with guns blazing. (I see no problem with it, but it would never pass in Congress, either nationally or in individual states. Attempting would be a waste of time.)

Prostitution is illegal in most states, so you can not levy a poll tax on prostitutes.

Tanning Beds: A tax that would fall heaviest on John Boehner would be great. I support that.

I prefer a tax where those who make more pay more rather than regressive consumption taxes that fall heaviest on a few individuals.

[beevul]

28. Hmmm...

"have light firearms"

Poll tax anyone?

I mean, the election of b*sh had some very definite economic costs to society, no?


The others...meh...give someone that ball and theyll run with it, and sooner or later it will be just like buying a pack of cigarettes in NY...ten dollars or better for a 3 dollar product.

Only it will be your soda (hands off my mountain dew, thanks) or your Icehouse (beer) or your wine or your taco bell or your kfc or your steak (when someone is allowed to decide its "bad" food)

Let me give you a counter example.



My body is MINE. And only MINE. And so therefore, by extension, are all decisions having to do with it.

Decisions to pierce, tatoo, abort a fetus, ingest, inhale, etc.


And if my body is NOT mine, what good...are the rights to vote, or the freedom of speech or any of the others?

[Odin2005]

30. What is wrong with a sales tax on non-essential goods?

I think you are whining about the popular name for such taxes.

[SoCalDem]

31. I prefer LUXURY taxes

There USED to be luxury taxes.. it was 10%

It was on stuff like jewelry, cosmetics, perfumes, furs etc.

It should be expanded these days to include liquor, snack foods/drinks & tobacco & anything with HCFS in it..

and I would like to see a 5% luxury tax on all fast food.

[Democrats_win]

35. Yes, luxury taxes. Or even greed taxes in keeping with the "sin" theme.

It's sad we don't have the luxury tax on the real luxuries like jewelry, etc. A lot of rich people couldn't have made their wealth in another country so why not help pay for America? This is a time in which America needs this tax money.

[Axle_techie]

33. With the feds set to start monitoring

Americans BMI, whats to say they won't eventually implement a "fat tax"??? If they start taxing things at will, where will they stop?

[ZombieHorde]

34. I don't believe in sin, so I don't believe in sin taxes anymore than unicorn taxes. nt

[mitchum]

36. I strongly believe that self righteous flamebait is a sin...

pay up

[Synicus Maximus]

37. My thoughts on sin taxes.

Cigarettes: I gave them up years ago so tax them.
Alcohol should be taxed except for bourbon.
Why would you tax food that has gone bad? Maybe we should just tax those that cook food badly.
Drugs and prostitution should be taxed. With a possible once a quarter tax exemption for prostitution, in case I ever get the urge to employ one.
Handguns and shotguns should not be taxed only hunting rifles.
I've never used a tanning bed, so tax them.

[divideandconquer]

41. A soda tax is in the news, in light of oil spill, maybe gas taxes should go up

[CTyankee]

44. Tax booze but not the wine I drink. I quit smoking so I am smugly in favor of

taxing cigarettes. I don't tan so tax the tanning parlors, please. I detest fast food so tax all of them. I'm retired and I dress down so please let's bring back the "sumptuary" laws of the Middle Ages...as long as males are taxed for their finery as well as women. What I REALLY don't wear are high heels and I think a tax on them would be dandy...

[LooseWilly]

39. I strongly believe in "sinning".

And, yes... tax evasion is a "sin". :tinfoilhat:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. America is still jampacked with Puritans eager to get the "sinners".

[spanone]

43. and who decides 'good' or 'bad' ....you?

[thelordofhell]

45. So how do we tax your hubris?

For thinking these things are sins.

[Tejas]

46. Yes, start with ---> televisions and gaming consoles.

Install chips to transmit usage-per-hour to the designated nanny-beaurocracy that will have to be created just to keep up with the zillions of tax dollars collected.

[The Straight Story]

48. If we tax people I deem stupid we would have no debt(nt)

[FooshIt]

50. Profit is a sin so lets just tax that ok?

and leave the poor alone thanks

[laughingliberal]

60. +1000

Welcome to DU!

[LatteLibertine]

51. I don't believe they should be called sin taxes

and I have zero problems with taxes on most of the things you listed.

[Donnachaidh]

52. I strongly believe in taxing the living shit out of sin tax advocates

After all, these folks don't really spend money on anything other than feed for their high horses. :eyes:

[NutmegYankee]

56. +1

[proteus_lives]

53. Well that's stupider then usual.

[JHB]

54. well, there's the rub: "Economic costs to society" (one of the rubs, anyways)

Let's just say I don't trust how some of those are calculated.

Then, of course, I also don't have a lot of trust that the people who get to determine what qualifies as a "sin" would stop where I would, so I'm inclined to err on the side of caution.

And somehow those "sin" taxes never cover avarice.

[krabigirl]

55. Ugh...

[Biker13]

57. Unrec

[yella_dawg]

58. As long as you get to define "sin", right????

On Edit:


Given your username, I have to wonder where you got this idea.

[Curmudgeoness]

59. Economic costs to society? Whoa boy, the taxes could be for so many things.

Define this. Are you air conditioning your home right how? Let's tack on a sin tax for the electricity you are using since the costs to the environment are enormous just to generate that power. Every thing you do has economic costs to someone in society. You are just listing things that are sins in your mind. I could say it is a sin to cut a tree down, so you should be taxed out the butt to do that. Some people can argue that eating meat has economic costs---so be prepared to pay more for that. Hell, even tofu has economic costs to grow the soybeans. Where will your sin tax stop?

[laughingliberal]

61. Some people will propose anything to keep from taxing the rich.

And they appreciate your efforts.

[RainDog]

65. +1

not to mention that people don't want their piggish consumption of fossil fuels to ever get mentioned. lol.

[RainDog]

62. don't forget "ecological" sins - which do far more damage to more people

if you want "sin taxes" - gasoline for your car should be about ten bucks a gallon to compensate for the damage people do who drive long distances or drive SUVs, etc.

Also, heating and cooling costs - it should costs thousands of dollars to heat a macmansion.

let's just make sure the things that cause the most damage get the most taxes.

...because, in this country, people don't ever want to think that living in a large house, driving a big car, living far away from work - those things cause far more damage than the things you mention - so why didn't you mention them?

[depakid]

64. Recouping externalized costs AND promoting healthier behavior is a win/win

libertarians don't like it- but hey, they cry and whine about anything sensible, like children do when they're told it's past their bedtime.

[Sparkly]

67. What's the difference between sin, vice, and personal pleasure without "costs to society?"

And who decides? :shrug:

I say no -- tax the people who've so exploited workers/consumers, and hoarded wealth, to the point they're "sinfully rich." (Okay, maybe being rich isn't a sin, but GREED must be.)

[county worker]

68. That's a pretty short list. I'm sure you could come up with some others to make liberals look bad

for agreeing with you.

[smalll]

70. Funny thing is, almost all of those (except maybe "go to prostitutes") are sins of the POOR --

which is always the way with sin taxes, isn't it?

Let's tax: down-hill skiing! It's dangerous - it causes a lot of broken bones, that only burden our health-care system. And it's totally unnecssary -- kind of like a sin, right? Plus, all the wasteful energy needed to manufature snow when it doesn't come as they would like.

Let's tax: mountain climbing! A no brainer! Think of all the expense we have to go to to rescue mountain climbers?

Let's tax: IMPORTED alcohol! Look, it's already evil alcohol, there's more than enough of that made here - and at least that benefits U.S. producers -- but all those Tuscan Reds, Beaujoulaix (sp?) Nouveau, authentically-Japanese Sake, Belgian beers, etc. etc -- shipping and or flying it over here??? Not exactly a "low carbon footprint!"

But most of all, most of all - let's tax FLYING! Getting on the goddamn plane - even if only in (horrors!) coach, helps to spew a lot more global warming gasses than us poor land-bound smokers could even dream of. So stop flouncing around the country on "business", keep those Macbooks at home (instead of self-importantly displayed across the tray-table) and take up video-conferencing -- and stop flying to fucking Khatmandu or Patagonia or whatnot for some "eco-tourism" when you get a few weeks off!

----

I bet THOSE kind of "sin taxes" don't sound so hot to a certain class of people, do they?

[SunnySong]

74. We already tax the daylights out of flying... nt

[mmonk]

76. If greed and power are sins.

[Statistical]

77. Send me a detailed list of your hobbies, choices, and activities.

I will be sure to propose some "sin" taxes that directly affect you.

Most people in favor of so called "sin" taxes are only in favor because it affects someone else.

At least be honest and call them a "them" tax as in it affects them not me.

I don't smoke, rarely drink, likely wouldn't use marijuana even if it was legal and I strongly oppose so called "sin taxes" which are just a nice way of saying crush the poor with massive sales taxes we could never get support for if it affected everyone.

[Hosnon]

78. I am not completely opposed to using the tax code as a policy tool, if that's what you mean. nt.