In response to my post about PETA’s proposed meat tax, Sally over at Living Without Meat had this to say:
What she doesn’t share with us is if the tax deal goes through, will she go back to her formerly meat-free diet?
That’s right: I used to be a vegetarian. I was meat free from about 1991 to 1994. I started eating meat again around the time I moved to Philadelphia (maybe I should give that some thought). But I digress.
Sally’s question is a fair one. Would I, in fact, be willing to give up meat in exchange for a tax credit? Maybe. I guess it would depend on the amount in question.
You see, tax policy works exactly that way. The government creates policy based on what it believes provides an incentive for “desired behavior” (mortgage interest, but not rent, is deductible because the government wants to encourage home ownership) and a disincentive for “bad behavior” (cigarette taxes are meant to discourage smoking). And it is often effective. As gas taxes increase, people drive less. As cigarette taxes rise, people smoke less.
Given that’s the way that tax policy works, I thought Sally’s question was a fair question for everyone. So, I created a poll.
Assuming that offering proof would not be onerous, which of the following would you give up in exchange for $1000 tax credit?
Remember, that’s a credit, not a deduction (the main distinction between a credit and a deduction is that the credit is subtracted from the tentative tax due to IRS, as opposed to a mere reduction in gross income, so depending on your tax bracket, that could be significant). And, since I’m dictator for purposes of this poll, I will make it income independent (no phase-out) and applicable to all adults over the age of 18 in one household.
And no fair choosing something that you don’t do anyway. If you’re not a smoker, don’t choose cigarettes! That’s cheesy. It’s like my husband giving up watching Oprah for Lent…
And psst, if you choose “other” or “nothing”, I’d love to read your comments.
I don’t smoke, or drive, so those 2 were out. I would give up alcohol as I’m very much take it or leave it… when I binge I binge!
I was a veggie for a couple of years too, and would like to get back to it, but bacon butties are my downfall.
I can’t give up meat (I tried for 3 years and became anaemic). If I give up alcohol entirely there will be religious consequences, so I wouldn’t vote for that as a tax incentive (keep religion out of government – also I will kindly let DaveP eat my share of the world’s bacon butties). I don’t drive now. In a theoretical world, though, I would have no trouble giving up one item in a diet, one type of drink, one mode of transport as long as there are alternatives.
I don’t smoke, seldom drink, and my sex life is none of the government’s business. Nor is my diet. I will eat meat, and get my tax credits through less invasive incentives.
This was a bit hard, because I don’t eat meat and haven’t for 15 years. I don’t smoke and I don’t watch TV (unless DVDs count). 🙂 I chose alcohol, but even that might be cheating because I’m not a big drinker at all.
I would LOVE to give up driving if there was a good alternative in this area. I would do that even without the incentive.
Good call, Catslyn.
I’d like to see tax incentives for all the items mentioned just so I could have a nice glass of wine and a good steak before I smoked a cigarette while filling out my tax return and then drove to the Post Office and went home to see the special report on TV about how the Federal deficit ballooned as the nation turned vegetarian.
And wouldn’t giving up the Internet and sex be the same thing…or is that just me? 🙂
Actually, there’s been a lot of new chatter about taxing the use of the internet (I’m mentally making a note to post about it). There are a bunch of interesting bits to consider on that – should it just be internet sales? internet usage? On who? Federal? State? Would that encourage companies to move out of the country?
Similar arguments for these other things. If we subsidized eliminating any of these things (and arguably, we do for some), would you anticipate that it would create a disincentive for the companies to stay in the US, as well as for the consumers to avoid the products?
I wouldn’t give up anything that I liked to do, it kind of weirds me out that the government does these sort of things to control us.
How about:
Speeding?
Talking about American Idol?
Caring about Paris Hilton*?
David Hasselhoff?
Lying**?
Gambling***
Gossiping?
Blaming McDonald’s for making your kids fat?
Others?
* Except in connection with b5media blogs, which are ok
** Except in politics, marketing or franchising, or when absolutely necessary
*** Except state lotteries, revenue from which has fixed education and eldercare, and ended homelessness
Hmm.
Well, I have old speeding tickets, but nothing new so clearly I don’t speed now. 🙂
I did watch AI this season. I rooted for MindyDoo.
I don’t care about Paris Hilton, so that should get me somewhere.
I do have a bizarre interest in the Hoff but only for purposes of blogging.
I don’t lie. Since I’m an attorney, I’m “searching for the truth.”
I don’t gamble – except quarter slots.
I don’t gossip (ahem).
And my kids aren’t fat – but we don’t eat at McD’s – so draw your own conclusions.
But these are terrific starting points for conversation, Sean. Thanks.
Should we have sin taxes at all (where we dissuade “bad” behavior) or angel taxes (where we encourage “good” behavior)? Or should we, as Catslyn suggested, ask government to stay out of these issues altogether?
I already don’t eat meat, smoke, or drive. And here I was thinking I was a heathen…
To be fair, since I don’t smoke, drink, watch TV, or overeat, I’ll take a gas tax increase, since I consider it immoral to raise taxes that only apply to other people.
When I was 12 years old, I gave up Catholicism for Lent. By the time Easter came, I decided to make it permanent.