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Author
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Topic: New and Outrageous Taxes Including the 'Sin' tax
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Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 45
From: always here and no where
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted March 03, 2009 06:40 PM
  
In the midst of this economic meltdown, federal, state and local governments are all scrambling to find ways to generate more revenue and close their budget shortfalls -- and fast. Unfortunately, one way they tend to do this is by raising taxes and fees. Personal finance experts Ken and Daria Dolan of Dolans.com tell you to get ready for an onslaught of new taxes coming your way soon. Click through our gallery to see what you may expect, if these pass.
http://www.walletpop.com/taxes/new-and-outrageous-taxes
"Sin" Taxes
So-called "sin" taxes are on the hit list for many state and local governments, raising taxes on everything from cigarettes to alcohol. New York is even toying with an 18% tax on non-diet soda, dubbed an "obesity tax," capable of raising $400 million a year. If the governor of Wisconsin has his way, cigarette taxes will go up 75 cents a pack! The increase will generate $300 million for the state over two years. In Massachusetts, the governor is considering a new 5 percent sales tax on beer. This and other "wellness" taxes could cost taxpayers as much as $150 million each year! IP: Logged |
MyVirgoMask
Knowflake Posts: 3480
From: Bay Area, CA
Registered: May 2009
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posted March 03, 2009 11:03 PM
Syntax Error  IP: Logged |
MyVirgoMask
Knowflake Posts: 3480
From: Bay Area, CA
Registered: May 2009
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posted March 03, 2009 11:12 PM
I wonder if they'll raise the taxes on sex toys and porn.What a stupid term 'sin tax'. I don't like the religious overtones. Very clumsy. I'd like to tax them on their silly choice of terms. IP: Logged |
Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 45
From: always here and no where
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted March 03, 2009 11:22 PM
Well according to the politicians, any indulgence is a sin. For example: Drinking regular coke is a sin while drinking diet coke is no-sin.
Smoking cigarrette is a sin.Next will be eating too many pizzas is a sin. And so on , until having 3 babies is a sin. Can you imagine that happening in America some day?
IP: Logged |
writesomething
unregistered
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posted March 03, 2009 11:28 PM
im ok with a "obesity tax".."cig tax" etc...the money they raise with cig taxes goes to fund healthcare for children. the taxes i think are good to help also to force better lifestyle choices. maybe its the virgo in me, but i think we cant be left to our devices when it comes to better nutrition choices. IP: Logged |
Dervish
Knowflake Posts: 625
From:
Registered: May 2009
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posted March 04, 2009 12:02 AM
Why would these taxes go to health care instead of into special earmarks and pork and sweetheart deals that promise kickbacks?And why would any actual good intention not be dysfunctional or corrupt? And why wouldn't meat, milk, even alcohol (and various other) industries then not pay politicians to accept their products as healthy, so that the independent farmers and small collectives bear the burden (ie, punishing those who are actually producing the healthier foods and/or using the more ethical of agricultural practices)? Likewise, dangerous chemicals could be promoted as healthy (once politicians are paid enough), so that people are fined if they DON'T endanger their own health. That's how these things work out. And if it's ok to force people to be good with fines, then what about people who are of the wrong religion? Or sexual orientation? Or have biracial children? Or work drive through (breathing lots of exhaust there)? As a general rule, when ideals are put into practice by a government in the real world, the ideals go "splat" and the corruption begins. IP: Logged |
venusdeindia
unregistered
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posted March 04, 2009 06:11 AM
How about a tax on Condoms or even Playboy ????  IP: Logged |
juniperb
Moderator Posts: 856
From: Blue Star Kachina
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted March 04, 2009 08:21 AM
quote:
the taxes i think are good to help also to force better lifestyle choices. maybe its the virgo in me, but i think we cant be left to our devices when it comes to better nutrition choices.
Forced??  Call me an old fashioned fool, but I stand on my constitutional right to make my own choices and leave the govermental interference to the countries without said Constitution and blatantly wear the lable of Socialism/Communism . That said by a Virgo Moon ------------------
~
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~ - George Eliot IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 6024
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted March 04, 2009 10:52 AM
well the tax on non-diet soda and lack of on diet soda is not necessarily a healthy option, since diet-sodas contain aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that can damage your health even more than obesity.this has been going on in england for decades, every new budget alchohol and cigarettes go up, the excuse being that these are luxuries, not necessarily because they're bad for you but unnecessary to survival...and the cigarette and liquor companies don't seem to mind. when i left there 14 years ago cigarettes were about $6 per pack - but the saving grace of this is that in england you can buy 1, 5 or 10 cigarettes instead of 20... IP: Logged |
Dervish
Knowflake Posts: 625
From:
Registered: May 2009
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posted March 04, 2009 09:37 PM
Communist Romania even had a Pregnancy Enforcement Agency of some kind, and women who did not conceive were tested to make sure they hadn't had an abortion criminally. After that, they were taxed for not having children. The rationale being that Romania needed children to create more workers, soldiers, etc, for the state, and those women not producing children were not doing their full duty and thus had to pay something akin to a "sin tax." 'course the funny thing is that those children not only became a burden on state orphanages and hospitals, but later made up the bulk of the revolution. Those children mandated by government were the same children to throw that government against the firing wall and shoot them. Most of the time, Communism collapsed on its own, but this was the exception where teens killed their society's leaders. Some would call that karma. IP: Logged |
Eleanore
Moderator Posts: 112
From: Okinawa, Japan
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted March 04, 2009 11:51 PM
Personally, taxes like these wouldn't affect my family much. We don't smoke, don't buy much alcohol or soda, etc.However, I am definitely opposed to a "Sin" tax. Alot of the current crop of taxes seem like Sin taxes, though. Aren't taxes on "polluting" businesses Sin Taxes on a larger scale? I don't support pollution or smoking or alcholism or obesity ... but neither do I think it fair to have what is essentially a moral tax imposed on people to make money. It certainly isn't going to magically stop all "sinful" behavior, at least not alone. And if it does? The point is to raise more money so where do they get all the money they "need" if people are no longer "sinning". The whole concept is absurd though I'm sure they'll justify it with "desperate times" rhetoric. What other stupid ways are they going to find to tax us even more?  IP: Logged |
MyVirgoMask
Knowflake Posts: 3480
From: Bay Area, CA
Registered: May 2009
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posted March 05, 2009 02:43 AM
If they're going to tax people and call it sin tax, then it should be people who yap on their cell phone while driving and who are completely moronic drivers to begin with. Hey. It's dangerous and can cause accidents. That's a sin. And there's an awful lot of it going around these days  IP: Logged |
Lindaland
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