So this SOB "fat tax" is still making news?
Fight it, people, fight it!
I know it's tempting -- help the fatties help themselves
(and maybe get to make them squirm a little in the process)
but this is just
the thin edge of the wedge.
Once you got a fat tax, resolve the issues in definitions
what's "junk" and what's not
(sin defined)
soon it's open season on sinners.
Even if the first generation of taxes is
all earmarked for "good works" -- nutrition programs,
obesity prevention, whatever,
what about the next generation?
Look at smoking taxes, state lotteries, etc.
What is the justification for these levies?
The sin.
Once we believe that higher taxes reduce bad behavior (I don't),
that specious economic arguement (all of these behaviors are
almost perfectly inelastic),
it becomes the perfect greased chute
from poor pockets
to the state's coffers.