Soda/Obesity Tax?

[Chook-A-Holic]

It's mighty easy to say "Tax!!! Tax!!! Tax!!!" when I doesn't affect you. But just wait, your tax is coming soon. These so call "Sin Taxes" are just a gateway to get the naive ones on the bandwagon. Just think about some the possibilities.

Tax your free/subsidized health insurance from your employer as salary

Abolish deduction for your mortgage.

Abolish deduction for your children.

Abolish head of household deduction.

Tax the miles driven on top of the already pump tax.

These don't even touch the tip of the iceberg. It would be easy for me to say I'm for the above as some of these wouldn't affect me much. I saved and paid cash for my home_My kids are grown_I don't drive that much a year anyway. Wake up People!!!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Awwww... I got a hug from the famous (infamous?) Purple Chicken! That makes my evening better.

While the sympathy is appreciated, it's not what I was looking for. The truth of the matter is that everybody has something. Mine just happens to be a whacked out immune system. Other people have other issues. The deal is that we don't get to pick what our crappy thing will be. Sometimes your body betrays you, sometimes your mind. Sometimes your family is great and sometimes they stink. Sometimes you have an addictive personality and sometimes that is not your struggle. Life just happens and none of us get a perfect one.

That's why we don't get to badmouth others. Can I understand mental illness? Nope. That's not my struggle and not the struggle of those I love. Is it a real problem for some? Yes. Can I understand what it is like to be African-American? No. I'm pretty much a middle-class, suburban white girl. Does that negate the barriers and prejudices that many African-Americans deal with daily? Of course not. Do I understand what it is like to crave cigarettes? Kind of, because there are times the cravings for certain foods overwhelms me.

Again, it is a slippery slope when we feel that the gov't has the right to apply taxes and rules to just certain people. I suppose I am really sensitive to the issue right now as I am working on a Holocaust project at work. It is amazing that such atrocities happened and the general public did nothing. It all started with rules and taxes applied only to certain people. Are we sliding down the same path? Who knows? I just think we need to be very careful.

 

[Wildsky]

Thing is citygirl, folks should have been making noise a long time ago, its hard to complain or opose one thing when the other slipped by already (cig tax)

The cigs were my thang, I gave em up. So now the gov isn't getting my money they're out for someone elses..

EDIT TO ADD: as far as the hug from PC - watch the hands

 

[farmerlor]

While I get the reasoning behind the so called "sin taxes", it is not the government's job to legislate values or morality. My choices for my body are none of the government's business and as much as I hate the "slippery slope" argument it surely applies in this case. They can try to "help" people by making choices that make them obese cost more but then what? Will we have meters on the TV so that if the kids watch more than an hour a day we'll have to pay a tax on that? Maybe monitors on the beds to make sure the kids are getting enough sleep..... Nope, this is not something I pay my legislators to worry about.

 

[redhen]

I think its a bunch of crap..

Just another low down way for our govt. to get money from us. *someone higher up must need another private jet or something...gotta pay for it somehow..*

 

[ShaggysGirl]

I'm not a big soda drinker, but I don't think they should tax soda at all. What ever happened to No Taxation without representation? People need to vote and know what is going on in their state, country and local government. If you don't like it vote against it.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
shhhh!!! don't give them ideas!!

meri

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Maybe they'll try to tax BYC next!!!

 

[easttxchick]

I think the government needs to keep their nose out of my business-it ain't none of theirs how much I weigh!

 

[faykokoWV]

If they feel the need to tax what they consider to be "bad food" then they should spend the revenue from the tax on subsidizing healthy food so people can actually afford it. Eating healthy is expensive. Its much cheaper to by processed food than fresh. If they brought the prices of the fresh food down.

We have a huge problem in WV as they are trying to tax coal out of business. On the face of it, this would be completely different than a soda tax, but, it seems what they can't control by legislation they are trying to control by taxing.