Debate of the Week 4: Taxes on Necessities
Is it right for the government to impose taxes on items and services necessary for life? To tax items we as people cannot do without?
My stance is this: In the vast majority of cases, no.
I believe it is wrong to impose taxes of any kind on food. We don’t eat we die. To tax food is to impose a tax on life itself. Why not simply impose a life tax and kill anyone who doesn’t pay up? (If you are tax-happy person who also happens to be mentally unstable don’t get any funny ideas, I’m being facetious.)
I believe it wrong to impose taxes on needed services that we already pay for. We pay for our water, why tax it too? We pay for our electricity, phone, and heat, why tax it too? These things are needed commodities that we cannot live without at this time. No phone means no 911. No heat means freezing to death in some places. (I know, I know. What about wood burning stoves? Wood is taxed too. Sales tax. Unless you happen to have enough wood growing on your property that you can cut it yourself, but people who live in apartments don’t have that luxury do they?) No electricity means the way we preserve our food becomes useless and we are forced to return old ways that did not preserve it as well or as long and often left food tasting rather bad. I doubt anyone wants to go back to those days.
I believe it is wrong to tax drugs or medical services of any kind. Nobody should be taxed to stay healthy.
I believe it is right to tax gasoline for the purposes of road construction and maintenance, as well as the erection and maintenance of various safety signs and signals. To use this money for other purposes is wrong since the purpose of buying the gas is typically to drive on a road, not to visit some art museum in another state. Truthfully, since gasoline and roads go together like bread and butter I think gas taxes should pay for all road construction and maintenance. If gas taxes must go higher to cover the cost of keeping the roads my family must drive on safe then so be it. If not, don’t go raising them to pay for anything else. I am happy to pay for the roads I use, and people who don’t use them don’t need to pay for them for me.
This is just a small sampling, but you get the picture.
What do you think?
My stance is this: In the vast majority of cases, no.
I believe it is wrong to impose taxes of any kind on food. We don’t eat we die. To tax food is to impose a tax on life itself. Why not simply impose a life tax and kill anyone who doesn’t pay up? (If you are tax-happy person who also happens to be mentally unstable don’t get any funny ideas, I’m being facetious.)
I believe it wrong to impose taxes on needed services that we already pay for. We pay for our water, why tax it too? We pay for our electricity, phone, and heat, why tax it too? These things are needed commodities that we cannot live without at this time. No phone means no 911. No heat means freezing to death in some places. (I know, I know. What about wood burning stoves? Wood is taxed too. Sales tax. Unless you happen to have enough wood growing on your property that you can cut it yourself, but people who live in apartments don’t have that luxury do they?) No electricity means the way we preserve our food becomes useless and we are forced to return old ways that did not preserve it as well or as long and often left food tasting rather bad. I doubt anyone wants to go back to those days.
I believe it is wrong to tax drugs or medical services of any kind. Nobody should be taxed to stay healthy.
I believe it is right to tax gasoline for the purposes of road construction and maintenance, as well as the erection and maintenance of various safety signs and signals. To use this money for other purposes is wrong since the purpose of buying the gas is typically to drive on a road, not to visit some art museum in another state. Truthfully, since gasoline and roads go together like bread and butter I think gas taxes should pay for all road construction and maintenance. If gas taxes must go higher to cover the cost of keeping the roads my family must drive on safe then so be it. If not, don’t go raising them to pay for anything else. I am happy to pay for the roads I use, and people who don’t use them don’t need to pay for them for me.
This is just a small sampling, but you get the picture.
What do you think?
posted by Daniel Levesque at
11:39 AM
6 Comments:
Hey Hey Hey!! I think I agree with every word you just wrote.
Call up Ripley!
By
Dan Trabue, at 12:20 PM
In NY State they don't tax periodicals. I could never figure out why, since everything else I can think of is taxed. Have a look at your phone bill. Every time you make a long-distance call, it's taxed at least a half dozen different ways.
By
Van Helsing, at 1:08 PM
Don't tax stuff?
I like the cut of your jib, soldier!
(I formally apologize for saying the cut of your jib. I couldn't help myself.)
Yay! Lower my taxes!
By
The Conservative UAW Guy, at 2:47 PM
I think I agree with you, Daniel. And so does Dan Trabue! This world is a very strange place... :)
They don't tax food in Texas. They don't tax it in Florida either. Those are only two states I know of that don't. All the rest of the states I have lived in do. There probably are more that don't tax food; I just don't know which ones.
Van Helsing said that they don't tax periodicals in NY. What in the world is that about, I wonder? It's not like periodicals are a necessity of life! As far as the phone bill, mine is set in stone where the plan I have charges me a set rate no matter how many long distance calls I make per month. My connection to the Internet is long distance, because I'm so far out in the boondocks even my computer says I'm in an "unknown zone," so I guess I'm pretty lucky and I shouldn't gripe about paying taxes on schools when the time comes that I will not have any children in school.
By
Gayle, at 4:45 PM
Hell, we get taxed for taking in food in one end, and dumping it out the other. Isn't that duble taxing on the same product?
P.S.: Thank's for stopping by Daniel, I would have responded sooner, but was kind of up in the air(in a plane).
By
ABFreedom, at 4:53 PM
Goodness. I seem to have actually stated my case soeloquently that there are no disagreements for once. It doesn't make for a very fun debate, now does it? Interestingly enough, the conservatives and the liberals seem to be united on this one. I wonder then, why it is that the more liberal states actually do tax all or most of these things, and then go on to use the money for unrelated projects. Sounds like a real vote-getter if anyone campaigned on it in the affected states.
By
Daniel Levesque, at 10:50 PM
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