LOL, I can feel my fellow soda drinkers pain. I drink a minimum of a 12 pack a day.(yea I know but can't stand water) It is just the beginning, that is what happens when you get govt involved in paying for health care. To think it will stay at pennies per ounce is delusional. A quote from many years ago: While, I of course oppose it, likely will be unavoidable in the future with the way the country is heading. I find consumtion taxes better than other forms of taxation however. Far better than just banning behavior outright. It gives the govt a incentive to allow unhealthy behavior. We must bribe our authoritarian masters to allow our "freedoms". If they pass it, I will pay it, and have a coke and smile. To those that oppose this and favor govt funded health care. Ain't nothing in life free. The govt taketh far more than they giveth. It has to come from somewhere.
I know we could all meet in Galveston and call it the Galveston coke party. Hijack a dozen Coca Cola trucks and pour it all in the water till it turns brown. ... Oh never mind the water is already brown, and I went to a Galveston coke party once, not a single soda at the damn thing. 20 years ago and still feel guilty about it. Maybe Florida? Cocoa Beach might work. Let me know about a month before though. Need to lose some of this pudge from drinking to many cokes, before I can go to the beach. Starts effecting you more after 40 it seems.
I get what you're saying. It seems to me that if people are going to be taxed, why not tax those who are less responsible? If people are going to drive hazardously and ingest anything they want, and harm themselves or those around them, maybe they should pay more than the others. To me, it's like suicide law - it's an antisocial behavior that should be punished. One can always say, "Don't tell me what I can do with my body, and I can kill myself if I want to." Turning a blind eye doesn't sit well with me. People don't seem to mind alcohol or tobacco being taxed, but for some reason they draw the line at sugary drinks.
Coke is still one of the largest, if not the largest, name brand in the world. Few companies of that size and wealth don't get robbed and looted by the federal government eventually. Few industries of that size, wealth and profits don't get robbed eventually.
Now that the government is supplying health care we are going to see LOTS AND LOTS of this. "We shouldn't have to waste money on someone's destructive behavior!" Expect this to do nothing but expand
So you are going to be the one to deem who is "driving hazardously" or "ingesting bad things" or "harm themselves or those around them". This is getting absolutely ridiculous, I want to tax people who want to take my freedoms away.
Tax…are you ready? Wait for it… BIG condoms! Who wants to see Trojan's profit margins? Liberals wouldn't find them grotesque? How many jobs has Trojan shipped overseas, Jon Stewart? No more! Why shouldn't it be considered another sin tax? Think of all the reasons people use condoms, besides as water balloons, and it makes sense.
What about people who hire other people to steal money from their neighbors? Wouldn't the actual initiation of force against peaceful people be considered extremely harmful? Punished according to whom? Why not just let others live their lives as they see fit?
It seems that the alternatives are: 1) Tax everyone equally (say, $3,000 per person per year) 2) Tax everyone flatly (say, 10% of their income per year) 3) Tax everyone progressively (Tax brackets) 4) Don't tax people at all. 5) Tax vices (Alcohol, tobacco, etc.) We've been relying on Options 4 and 5 for many decades. It seems to be the best solution to fund government. Your freedoms are taken away just by living in a society.
Yeah sadly Im almost positive there are members of this forum who are reading that and thinking "hell yeah!"
first came Cigarettes, no one said anything, next comes caffeine, then will be candy... lets end the luxury tax on all items under 100,000 dollars .
I know, right? How dare the government violate my freedom of expression and prevent me from killing people I don't like.
"We're doing it to discourage the poor to not drink soda and be more healthy" We should tax the crap out of television then so that way poor people couldn't afford it and they would have to go outside for entertainment and get exercise and be healthier. Do rational people seriously not understand how backwards that sort of logic is....
Of course it's not a right to take another person's life simply because you don't like them. In fact, it's the exact opposite of a right, as it is a violation of the other individual's right to life. Natural rights are understood as negative obligations on others, that is, natural rights restrict what individuals may legitimately do to one another. The only forms of expression that are legitimate under a natural law paradigm are those forms of expression that do not infringe upon the equal rights of others to life and liberty. Certainly not.
that will be next.. cigarettes set the precedent, that revenue stream is drying up.... the gov just wants to protect you from yourself... and they want you to pay them to do it via a luxury tax another way of looking at it is... only the rich should have such luxuries is what the gov thinks.... .