[Great Dane]

Fast food isn't a necessity, obesity is a higher risk to health than smoking, I don't do fast food, so I am all for taxing it at the same rate as cigarettes.

[Justa]

"Fast food isn't a necessity, obesity is a higher risk to health than smoking, I don't do fast food, so I am all for taxing it at the same rate as cigarettes."

By that reasoning at what rate would you tax abortions?

[dheretic]

Neither do I. You cannot tax McDonalds without taxing every restaurant chain out there with perhaps the exception of Outback because it takes them so long to cook anything that it cannot be classified as fast food. Which would you rather pay, an excise tax on cigarettes or an income tax? I'd rather people pay the former than the latter especially if we are going to maintain a state-supported medical system. If some poor schmuck is going to smoke himself into lung cancer, by God he better be putting good money into the system to support himself every time he buys a pack. Same with alcohol and drugs. Don't do the vice if you cannot afford to pay for the health costs. I would be in favor of no tax on tobacco or alcohol if there was no public subsidizing of health care for drinkers and smokers and private hospitals were in no way forced to give aid to the poor. If we are going to have a safety net for idiots who f&%$ their bodies, by God they'll pay out their asses to support that safety net. I, and everyone else that doesn't drink or smoke, have no responsibility whatsoever to support them if they inflict disease and injury on themselves by their own stupidity.