It’s been said before that it’ll happen. I never had a doubt, but I was a little shocked that it happened so quickly…and in the actual bill.
What am I talking about? The healthcare bill and the proposed 10% tax on using a tanning bed of all things.
You see, for a while now, there’s been talk by opponents of the healthcare bill who claimed that with the government having a stake in healthcare, they would be able to use it to regulate behavior they found to be “unsafe” since now unsafe behavior could increase the burden on the Federal government. But the proposed tax is one of the first such attempts that I’ve heard about.
It’s long been known that laying in a tanning bed increases your risk of skin cancer, and people are aware of that too. You see, people are stupid, but the individual person generally isn’t. They know this, and use a little something called “free will” and decide to take the chance. While this may not be a smart idea, we all have a God-given right to be stupid from time to time. It’s the most fundamental freedom.
However, they are trying the same thing with tanning beds they did with tobacco. They raised taxes on tobacco because they believe that government knows best. By raising taxes on behavior they don’t like, Uncle Sam seeks to pressure you to making the decision that Uncle Sam wants you to make all.
If I didn’t already oppose government run healthcare, this would be enough to convince me to oppose it.
You see, I’m morally opposed to government trying to convince me to do anything. It’s not their place. The purpose of government is to handle a few things and leave me the heck alone. Arrest the bad guys, fight fires, enforce contracts, and I’m good. Try and tell me that you know what’s best for me? Kiss my butt!
So, they try and tax stuff they don’t like. It’s just another way to backdoor attack freedoms someone doesn’t like. You see, their argument is that you’re still free to use a tanning bed, and they’re right. But where do they get off taxing some business transactions at one rate, and others at another? For that matter, where do they get off getting involved in a legal business transaction between two consenting adults at all?
But that’s just the way of the world these days, isn’t it? If you don’t like something that someone else does that has no impact on you, then regulate the hell out of it. After all, everyone knows what’s best for you except for you apparently.
Personally, I want everyone to butt out of my life and let me live it for a change. I don’t care what you think of what I do, but you darn well better keep your hands out of my pocket and your nose out of my business!
Imposing someones will on others through taxation also disproportionately impacts the economically disadvantaged. Take cigarettes for example. Increasing the sin tax on tobacco probably does little to deter a wealthy smoker, but may take bread off the table of a part-time minimum wage earner. Gasoline tax raises to curb consumption and artificially create a demand for greener vehicles. Think about how higher fuel prices affected the habits of a wealthy driver versus a single parent. The impact is clearly economically disparate.
Even if you are not a smoker; even if you don’t drink alcohol; even if you don’t drive a big pick-up truck; even if you are not a super-speeder; you still ultimately and collectively pay the government more money. They will sooner or later tax one of your activities and there will not be a group large enough to effectively oppose it. Their strategy is to Divide and Tax. But, a tax on one of us is a tax on all of us. Behavior Control through taxation is bad on many different levels.
Tax the wealthy – control the poor. Is this how a democracy should work? Is this freedom? Why do we tolerate it?
Something serious to look into, Georgia passed a tax law 2-3 years ago stating you can claim the standard deduction OR the sales tax you paid during the year, whichever was higher. My problem with this is fuel for example how much of that price is TAX and legally deductible and why doesn’t it print on our reciept like everything else?
Dis you know there is a 40% wholesale tax that a tobbaconist has to pay on cigars before you have to pay an additional tax? I’m gonna smoke stogies because I can, I’m educated and understand the risks, but life is about living, sometimes near the edge.
Good point about documents the taxes on fuel and tobacco. Tobacco especially, has been thoroughly demonized and is thus a magnet for onerous taxation. Smokers should at least be able to deduct it, including the taxes paid further up the distribution chain.
I am not a smoker, but it is not my place to tell Tim that he shouldn’t enjoy a cigar or dissuade him through excessive taxes, any more than he should tell me what kind of car to drive.
And don’t get me started on smoke-free restaurants; butter-knife free schools; and zero-tolerance laws in general. Spineless politicians and lazy bureaucrats guarantee unintended consequences.