As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Adam Smith.Org: UK’s Fat Tax Won’t Work
From AdamSmith.Org Fat Taxes Won’t Prevent People From Getting Fat, Fatheads: Research released last week suggested that people in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland should follow an ‘English’ diet to reduce levels of obesity. Fair enough, but unfortunately they also recommended imposing this diet by taxing fatty foods. ‘Sin’ taxes do not merely fail in…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyDenmark’s Fat Tax
If President Obama and the tax-happy left get their way, this is what is coming in America. Lisa Abend of TIME reports that Denmark has just enacted a tax on fatty foods: The tax, the first of its kind in the world, imposes a 16 krone (roughly $3) hike per kilo of saturated fat on…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Legislative Watch, Tax PolicyThe Touchdown Tax: A Sin Tax on College Sports
Allen Sanderson wrote a column for Chicago Life Magazine titled Taxes and Touchdowns, Leveling the Playing Field in College Athletics: If [the sin taxes} now on the table are acceptable, let me suggest a fifth item: college football games. Yes, I am advocating that we impose steep taxes on all intercollegiate football advertising, television broadcasts, logo merchandise…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyTax Credits for Healthy Choices? It Beats the Soda Tax
In prior posts (see related posts below) we have criticized the many efforts by both federal and state legislators to impose sin taxes on the consumption of sweet drinks and other items deemed to be bad for you. We said that we believed that the purpose behind these tax proposals were not to curb bad…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyIf Taxes are a Deterrent to Sin, what Does the Income Tax Deter?
Here’s little tax rap video I found on YouTube. Very clever:
Read Full Article Categorized in: Satire, Tax HumorThe Tanning Tax Precedent: What’s Next?
The tanning tax, which will fall disproportionately on blonde bimbos and George Hamilton, went into effect last week and got me wondering what additional industry-targeted taxes the Republicans might propose should they gain power in November. Here are three that readily came to mind: Warning: If you are politically correct and/or lack a sense of humor, skip this part The hair-straightening surtax…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax HumorA Chap from Hawaii
There once was a chap from Hawaii Who said he wouldn’t tax high ye. He spent like a drunk, The bottom line shrunk, Now he taxes ye tan and ye Pepsi
Read Full Article Categorized in: Poems, Tax HumorSlate: Soda Tax May Cause Backlash and Increase Soda Sales
Sheena Iyengar of Slate writes that sin taxes don’t work because people don’t like to be told what not to do: Most scientific evidence suggests that an increase in price does lead to a decrease in consumption. For soda, it’s estimated that a 10 percent markup would reduce intake by about 8 percent (PDF). (Assuming…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax PolicyTax Break for Diet Soda Drinkers?
In the name of promoting public health embattled New York Governor David Paterson wants to reward people for consuming a drink that is unhealthy for them. Joseph Berger of the New York Times reports that Paterson, who is still trying to raise revenue by taxing sweet drinks, has a new ploy: Paterson is considering a new strategy…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, State Taxes, Tax PolicyBackdoor Taxes: No Brotherly Love for Smokers in Philadelphia
Justin Higginbotham of the Tax Policy Blog writes of another attempt to tax the middle class via the backdoor: In Philadelphia’s desperate search for cash, a new tobacco tax can be added to the list of bad proposals meant to close the city’s reported $150 million budget gap—along with a soda tax and trash fee…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax PolicySave America, Outlaw Pizza
Newsflash: None of us is getting out of here alive.¹ From Reuters here are the latest sin tax shenanigans: U.S. researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down U.S. adults’ calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (2 kg) per year. The researchers, writing in the journal Archives of…
Read Full Article Categorized in: News, Tax PolicyOne Dollar Cigarette Tax Would Raise $9 Billion Plus for States
Maggie Fox of Reuters writes that a study released by the Cancer Action Network, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that, [A]dding a $1 per pack tax to cigarettes could raise more than $9 billion a…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax PolicyHawaii Kills Soda Tax Because it Doesn’t go Far Enough
Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV reports (emphasis added): A state House committee on Friday killed a bill to put a new tax as high as 12 cents on each can of soda. The bill would have slapped a tax of up to 1 cent per ounce on sodas, meaning a 12-ounce can of soda would cost…
Read Full Article Categorized in: State Taxes, Tax PolicyTummy Tuck Tax Truths
I have written ad nauseum about Congress’ efforts to find new sources of tax revenues because it lacks the collective courage to impose a direct income tax increase on the middle-class. Now here comes Josh Barro, Walter Wriston fellow at the Manahattan Instititute, writing for Forbes.com on the dangers of the botax: This tax will raise only $6 billion in new revenues over…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Tax PolicyBotax Not a Tax on the Rich, Say Plastic Surgeons
The New York Times says that plastic surgeons and their patients are angered by Senate proposal of a 5% surtax on certain types of elective surgery: The tax, which would be paid by the customer but collected by doctors, would be levied on any cosmetic surgery that is not necessary to address deformities arising from…
Read Full Article Categorized in: healthcare reform, Tax Policy