I have a confession … I drink alcohol.
I enjoy soda, too. Potato chips? Love ‘em.
So why are politicians posing as moral leaders and digging into my wallet over these simple pleasures? Well, simply because their vision is just as simple. City,
state and federal government officials have locked into the mindless
notion that these "sin taxes" are either morally or economically
logical. They couldn’t be more wrong.
It’s easy to find public
support when you single out a faction that can be looked down upon as
taking part in immoral behaviors, forgetting about individual rights or
the ability for the public to make its own moral judgments.
But
the truth is that sin taxes need to be resisted on both moral and
economic grounds. By taxing products that are overwhelmingly purchased
by those with lower incomes, it effectively amounts to a regressive
tax, or a tax paid for by lower income individuals.
The latest
craze in this trend is California’s soda tax that would only add to the
numerous regressive taxes in a state that already has the highest sales
taxes. What’s next, fast food, cable? After that they better raises
taxes for gym memberships too; people are sweating and sharing germs
all over those places.
Sin taxes don’t just hurt the "sinners"
either. They are anti-business too and have the ability to destroy
hospitality businesses – restaurants, bars and hotels – that thrive on
the sales of alcohol.
Now you can start to see the trail
towards hurt – a loss of revenue in these industries means a loss of
jobs and an eventual hammer to the economy. Government leaders
shouldn’t try to alter social behavior with taxation and certainly
shouldn’t create taxes that harm small businesses.
Eventually the government loses that expected revenue.
Government
decision-makers need to stop setting smokescreens to distract from the
true economic issues. You can only put so many band-aids over an open
wound before you realize it’s probably time to see a doctor.
It’s time to stop the moralistic posing. Sin taxes are not the solution to the state’s economic issues.
James Spencer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @publicceo