Comments on: You Can Leave Your Hat On – and Your Wallet At the Door

By: TaxRascal

TaxRascal — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:35:02 +0000

Long has a good point: if we start taxing something, we’re very unlikely to ban it. This is why the prostitution industry in Nevada lobbies for itself to be taxed. If Congress is serious about raising revenue, here’s something they can do: set up a ‘fast track’ for high excise taxes on any product that has no redeeming social value. So if someone comes up with a new and useless drug that’s going to be banned in a few months, they can just get it taxed at 50% and it will be legal forever.

By: garagefather

garagefather — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:53:07 +0000

There is this magical thing that closes budget shortfalls that no government entity truly considers or goes far enough to be effective:
Cutting spending!
I know governments are cutting spending to some degree out of necessity but they are clearly not going far enough. They can’t seem to stomach what the rest of us are forced to do in tough times. It is obviously because they feel that their budget priorities are too important to cut. Most people and families that work and pay taxes could care less about everything but public utilities, police, and emergency services, which is the only thing they seem to cut in my area.
The fact is that most of the politicians have gotten where they are by buying votes and if they cannot deliver the pork to continue to buy votes, their constituents will have no reason to vote for them.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:11:07 +0000

A “stripper” tax would sadly have the effect of reducing the income of strippers.