Free Republic

Sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco have cost the Treasury more than £31 billion, an analysis has disclosed amid calls for a reduction in the Autumn Statement. Around £31.6 billion of tax revenue has been lost because of the illicit market in spirits, beer, wine, cigarettes, rolling tobacco and diesel, according to the analysis of HMRC figures by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. The high taxes on alcohol and tobacco simply fuel a black market in the goods which means that HMRC loses money, the campaign group said. …

Things aren’t going very well in Juneau these days and unlike the more nuanced arguments taking place in other states, Alaska is dealing with a problem which can be summed up in one word: money. The state spent a long time riding high on sustained, high oil prices which greatly impact their budget, but the sunset of the oil boom has led to a long term collapse in those revenues and Alaska needs to come up with some more cash. Their part time legislature will be returning to session next month and they will be facing a wide ranging proposal...

After news of the baffling decision by the New York grand jury not to indict a police officer in the killing of Eric Garner, I sent out a (slightly) hyperbolic tweet that wondered why Americans would want to entrust their free speech and health care to an institution that will kill you over failure to pay a cigarette tax. Since then, I’ve seen numerous tweets arguing that bringing up the tax is preposterous, that it’s akin to blaming jaywalking for the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) touched on the issue in an interview...

Illinois Democrats have proposed a penny-per-ounce “sodapop tax” – a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. Now, when you propose a number like “a penny,” it sounds small, and many people tend to dismiss it as inconsequential. But let's do the math. A 20 oz bottle of cola, lemon-lime, or root beer, sold alone at a gas station, might be $1.69 or so. Another twenty cents added on to that might seem unimportant, on its own, though it’s a brand new 12% tax on the purchase (and remember, there are still other taxes, like the state and local sales tax, in addition)....

Would you rather sip on unpasteurized milk or a cold glass of soda? Do you prefer Saturday lunch at a fast food joint or a farmers market? Regardless of your choices, your food freedom -- your right to grow, raise, produce, buy, sell, share, cook, eat, and drink the foods you want -- is under attack. Here are ten food freedom issues to keep an eye on in 2014. 1: FDA May Ban or Restrict a Growing Number of Food Ingredients. The FDA has proposed banning oils containing trans fats, an ingredient found in foods like coffee creamers and muffins....

A proposal to impose hefty taxes on recreational marijuana, whose use was okayed by Colorado voters in last year’s election, was an easy sell in the state Tuesday. About two-thirds of those casting ballots approved a 15 percent excise tax plus a 10 percent sales tax on pot sales that begin next year. The taxes are projected to bring in $70 million a year. The money will be used for school construction and regulating pot sales. … Also in Colorado, ten rural counties refused to approve secession from the state in an effort to form a 51st state called North...

Cigarette taxes turn a frowned-upon habit into a popular revenue source. But a recent study found that cigarette taxes often lead to other tax hikes later. The National Taxpayers Union found a 70 percent chance that the so-called sin taxes will not produce the expected revenue, as people buy fewer packs. The taxpayer advocate organization reported that from 2007 to 2011, 25 of 37 cigarette tax increases were joined by other new tax hikes within two years.

Democrats believe that the selling of a Coke or Pepsi is a privilege granted by government. Only government can determine what is allowed to be sold. Worse, they consider the use of soda a problem of “Behavioral Health”—surely a government determination. And they want to make violation of this new law a CRIMINAL act. “This bill would, on and after July 1, 2013, impose a tax on every distributor, as defined, for the privilege of distributing in this state bottled sweetened beverages, at a rate of $0.01 per fluid ounce and for the privilege of distributing concentrate in this state,...

Candy, soda, tobacco, and bottles of water and sports drinks are all in Gov. Deval Patrick's crosshairs as he announced another $2 billion tax wish list in his $34.8 billion proposed fiscal 2014 budget at the State House this afternoon. Among the tax highlights: The cigarette excise tax would be hiked by $1 to $3.51 per pack. Taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco would also increase. The state would essentially expand the bottle bill to include water bottles and sports drinks on deposits. Candy and soda would no longer be exempt from the state sales tax. Patrick last week proposed...

After decades of increasing tobacco taxes at the federal, state, and local levels, some states are beginning to buck this fiscally burdensome and irresponsible trend. On March 17, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill that would cut the state’s cigarette tax by a dime, to $1.68 per pack. Two other states with high tobacco taxes—New Jersey and Rhode Island—are also considering proposals to reduce taxes on tobacco products to make their state’s tax rates more competitive. This reversal in policy would be fiscally responsible and especially beneficial to low-income people. Many economists have noted that many states’...

It could cost a good deal more to be bad this year. Cash-strapped state lawmakers across the country are looking at raising "sin" taxes on everything from traditional vices, like smoking cigarettes and imbibing alcohol, to more recently vilified habits like drinking sugary sodas and hitting the tanning salon. - In Mississippi, state Rep. John Mayo, citing the state's place at the top of national obesity ratings, is sponsoring a bill that would add about 25 cents in new taxes to a can of soda. - In New York, state Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, Brooklyn Democrat, wants a new "fat tax,"...

Jeff Gombosky, a lobbyist for Anheuser-Busch in Olympia, tells PubliCola he has heard a rumor that a beer tax was floated in Olympia on Friday as a revenue source to break the stalemate in Olympia. He has not seen anything official yet, however. Gombosky said generally Anheuser-Busch does not support singling out one item or industry for taxation (the House has already dropped its proposal for a $30 million gum and candy tax and a $96 million soda pop tax, which actually resurfaced today, has been MIA in both the House and Senate budgets all session). Gombosky says he especially...

The great state of Nevada may be desperate for cash, but not so desperate that it will tax pot or prostitution to make ends meet. Proposals for new taxes on marijuana and prostitution are just two of the citizen-generated ideas lawmakers and Gov. Jim Gibbons have decided not to include on the agenda for an upcoming special session of the Legislature. That's despite a budget shortfall estimated at $887 million and assertions that "everything is on the table" when it comes to balancing the state budget without further cuts to education and services for the state's seniors and mentally ill....

A proposal to increase the state beer tax drew support and criticism in Madison on Tuesday. Some think it will help crack down on drunken driving, while others aren't as sure. Advocates and opponents of the beer tax increase piled into the public hearing. After the bill's author, Representative Teresa Berceau (D-Madison) rattled off Wisconsin's notorious drinking statistics, she said the tax is affordable for the average drinker and would fund reform against drunken driving. "We're talking about drinking a six-pack a day, seven days a week to generate an additional dollar of taxes. If you're drinking more than that,...

Like bears to honey or zombies to brains, politicians find something irresistible about soda taxes. President Obama recently told Men's Health magazine that he thinks a "sin tax" on soda is "an idea that we should be exploring." San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom moved to impose a fee on stores for selling sugary drinks, only to admit that his plan was probably illegal. In December, New York Gov. David Paterson proposed a 18 percent tax on full-sugar soda to help cover a budget shortfall. After a public outcry, he claimed he was just raising awareness about childhood obesity. But he...

YouTube video: Nanny Tax Rap

"And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the Pepsi drinker!" There has to be a statement about soft drinks tucked somewhere in Leviticus. I have assurances, after all, that such beverages are wicked. Sin taxes normally are levied on so-called vices, such as drinking, smoking, and gambling. Now Congress is "studying" a proposal to legislate morality by taxing sugary beverages—which is to say, it is "studying" whether such a tax would be politically feasible. According to the executive director of the Center for "Science" in...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — For more than a century, the Sharp family of eastern North Carolina has grown tobacco, nicknamed the "golden leaf" for reasons that went beyond the cured plant's rich color. `snip "There's nothing else we're doing that comes even close to yielding the profits that tobacco yields." For generations, tobacco growers were a protected class, as lawmakers across the South defended the golden leaf as stridently as politicians from Michigan and New York do automakers and Wall Street. It remains a huge business: The tobacco crop in North Carolina alone, where farmers produce nearly half the value...

Tobacco connoisseurs can't catch a break. A new federal tax recently approved by President Obama has increased cigarette carton prices by more than $10 - about 75 cents a pack. The tax was passed in January as part of a multibillion dollar package to provide health care for children and certain legal immigrants. Local tobacco users and dealers admit the cause is admirable, but said the tax is unjust. “There is about zero common sense or logic in this whole tax,” said David Roth, owner of Tobacco Alley in Somerset. “It is a revenue stream that has been drying up...

ALBANY - Call it an un-cover charge. A Brooklyn assemblyman introduced a bill yesterday that would require patrons to pay the state $10 every time they visit a strip club or topless joint. Felix Ortiz, a Democrat, said the flesh fee could raise as much as $500 million for victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse and child prostitution.