Tag: sin taxes

Sin Taxes & Other Orwellian Methods of Compliance That Feed the Government’s Greed

Guest Post by John W. Whitehead

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”—C.S. Lewis

“Taxman,” the only song written by George Harrison to open one of the Beatles’ albums (it featured on the band’s 1966 Revolver album), is a snarling, biting, angry commentary on government greed and how little control “we the taxpayers” have over our lives and our money.

If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,

If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.

If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,

If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.

Don’t ask me what I want it for

If you don’t want to pay some more

‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman.

When the Beatles finally started earning enough money from their music to place them in the top tax bracket, they found the British government only-too-eager to levy a supertax on them of more than 90%.

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WE WIN FOR THE MOST SIN

I’m so proud. I already live in the state with the highest gasoline taxes in the nation and the highest toll rates in the nation. Now I find out my state of PA collects the most sin taxes in the nation. And my new governor doesn’t think we’re taxed nearly enough. He wants to double my income tax rates. Not to be outdone, the new communist mayor of Philly wants to inflict a sugar tax on the masses which will double the price of every beverage with sugar sold in Philly.

Don’t you love how these left wing politicians roll out gambling and taxes that inordinately hurt the poorest people the most. Poor people are much more likely to gamble, smoke and drink soda than rich people because they are dumb. Then they vote for the very same politicians who are screwing them. So it goes.

In total, states collected more than $32 billion by taxing tobacco-related purchases, alcohol consumption and gambling in 2014.

“As political pressure mounts to keep income and property taxes low, state legislatures have often turned to sin taxes to generate more revenue,” writes HowMuch.net’s Rebecca Lawrence. She said states have raised taxes on tobacco products 111 times between 2000 to 2015.

Wyoming registered the lowest 2014 tax tally at $26 million, with almost all of it from tobacco. As a result, you can barely see it on the map.

When it comes to alcohol, Texas is the only state to generate more than $1 billion in taxes. In fact, that number dwarfs the $452 million reaped by Florida in the second spot.