Sin Taxes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michaelo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Michaelo

Guest
Should additional taxes exist for socially proscribed products such as alcohol and tobacco?
 
Whilst it might seem like a good idea to discourage such undesirable activities, I question the moral conviction of a society that, rather than ban the things it considers sinful, simply profits from them!
 
Sure. Those who smoke and drink generally more health issues caused by the smoking and drinking. Taxes help offset those costs.

It’s like a lottery…I call it the ‘dumb-dumb’ tax. No one is making you pay…these are taxes you CHOOSE to pay by smoking, drinking, or playing the lottery.🤷
 
Dtmccameron said:
Whilst it might seem like a good idea to discourage such undesirable activities, I question the moral conviction of a society that, rather than ban the things it considers sinful, simply profits from them!
Click to expand...
I don’t think these activities are SINFUL…they are quite legal. They do cause health issues, though…people have a CHOICE…free will and all that…😉

Personally, I choose not to smoke and rarely drink (a glass of wine a few times a year). However, if someone else chooses to partake more often, that is fine…(just don’t make me smell your smoke)…there may be a price to pay…:)😃
 
Michaelo said:
Legality does not determine morality.

Also, where should we draw the line? Should a sin tax exist for products high in sugar?
Click to expand...
Now with cigarettes, I could see it, as they do nothing good, and in the long run kill you. And insult to the flesh, a desecration of God’s temple. But sugar?

That’s just…weird. It’s not…evil at all…The only way I could come to taxing sugary foods would be in a spartan culture where comfort foods were frowned upon for weakening us. We could do that if you like. Matresses would be taxed, for people ought be sleeping on mats on the floor…Y’know, stuff like that.
 
I thinks it’s wrong to put outragous taxes on a level of society just because they smoke or drink. If anything, just keep giving fines to the cig companies for putting all that junk in their cigs. Half of it’s not even tobacco for heaven sakes. Since we’re on the topic of sin taxes, why not tax porn? That’s that’s more sinful than smokes and liquor.
 
Catholic90 said:
Sure. Those who smoke and drink generally more health issues caused by the smoking and drinking. Taxes help offset those costs.

It’s like a lottery…I call it the ‘dumb-dumb’ tax. No one is making you pay…these are taxes you CHOOSE to pay by smoking, drinking, or playing the lottery.🤷
Click to expand...
I like what you call it: the dumb-dumb tax!!! Right on!!!
I am very dismayed that we are still manufacturing cigarettes however. I don’t think that anyone can argue that they have one ounce of good in them–people who smoke them are well aware of the risks, but continue to smoke because they are addicted to them. Why are we letting these companies continue to make them??? And how does this affect health care costs for everyone, including the non-smokers?

And alcohol–I know it’s legal but so many people are injured by it, including people and children who don’t actually drink it–alcohol related automobile accidents, alcoholism, etc.

I don’t play the lottery. I think it’s a stupid waste of money. They tax that too???

Maybe we should tax to the max all these hazardous (cigarettes, alcohol) or stupid (lottery) items. If cigarettes are too expensive maybe that will help people give them up and the companies close their operations.

I shouldn’t speak about the lottery because I don’t know anything about it. Abuse of alcohol and the destruction it causes, are of moral/ethical concern. I suppose that if alcohol were so overpriced and taxed people would find something else to abuse that’s possibly worse.
 
stringbeanduck said:
I thinks it’s wrong to put outragous taxes on a level of society just because they smoke or drink. If anything, just keep giving fines to the cig companies for putting all that junk in their cigs. Half of it’s not even tobacco for heaven sakes. Since we’re on the topic of sin taxes, why not tax porn? That’s that’s more sinful than smokes and liquor.
Click to expand...
smokes and liquor kill people though.
 
Marfran said:
I like what you call it: the dumb-dumb tax!!! Right on!!!
I am very dismayed that we are still manufacturing cigarettes however. I don’t think that anyone can argue that they have one ounce of good in them–people who smoke them are well aware of the risks, but continue to smoke because they are addicted to them. Why are we letting these companies continue to make them??? And how does this affect health care costs for everyone, including the non-smokers?

And alcohol–I know it’s legal but so many people are injured by it, including people and children who don’t actually drink it–alcohol related automobile accidents, alcoholism, etc.

I don’t play the lottery. I think it’s a stupid waste of money. They tax that too???

Maybe we should tax to the max all these hazardous (cigarettes, alcohol) or stupid (lottery) items. If cigarettes are too expensive maybe that will help people give them up and the companies close their operations.

I shouldn’t speak about the lottery because I don’t know anything about it. Abuse of alcohol and the destruction it causes, are of moral/ethical concern. I suppose that if alcohol were so overpriced and taxed people would find something else to abuse that’s possibly worse.
Click to expand...
We don’t believe in protecting adults from themselves in are culture. Which is as it should be.
 
Dtmccameron said:
Whilst it might seem like a good idea to discourage such undesirable activities, I question the moral conviction of a society that, rather than ban the things it considers sinful, simply profits from them!
Click to expand...
Yes, I don’t understand why cigarettes are just not outlawed. Somebody’s making money at the expense of individuals’ health, and there is also a great cost to society.
 
Some of this thread show the main reason while I stay Catholic , I distance myself from other Catholics. I’ll decide what goes in my body and some maralist busybody or some health nut. There is too much of a whats good for me is what is good for everyone attitude, the type of attitude I can’t stand more than any other. I choose not to smoke and I don’t want it blown in my face, but if one wants to smoke It’s not my business. If know of people who died of smoking in their 20s as well as people who started in their teens and smoked till they day they died in their 90s. In the legal sense of the word it’s my body I’ll do what I want with it, as long as I dont DIRECTLY hurt others in the process.
 
aspawloski4th said:
We don’t believe in protecting adults from themselves in are culture. Which is as it should be.
Click to expand...
Adults are not the only ones hurt by cigarettes and alcohol. I know a family that lost their children in a drunk driving accident–it was the other driver that was drinking. Whose rights are greater? The adult who has the legal right to drink? Or society as a whole, including the children who can be hurt by allowing this freedom for the adults?
 
aspawloski4th said:
Some of this thread show the main reason while I stay Catholic , I distance myself from other Catholics. I’ll decide what goes in my body and some maralist busybody or some health nut. There is too much of a whats good for me is what is good for everyone attitude, the type of attitude I can’t stand more than any other. I choose not to smoke and I don’t want it blown in my face, but if one wants to smoke It’s not my business. If know of people who died of smoking in their 20s as well as people who started in their teens and smoked till they day they died in their 90s. In the legal sense of the word it’s my body I’ll do what I want with it, as long as I dont DIRECTLY hurt others in the process.
Click to expand...
What about alcohol? One can drink alcohol AND directly hurt another human being, without intending to do so.
 
Marfran said:
I like what you call it: the dumb-dumb tax!!! Right on!!!
I am very dismayed that we are still manufacturing cigarettes however. I don’t think that anyone can argue that they have one ounce of good in them–people who smoke them are well aware of the risks, but continue to smoke because they are addicted to them. Why are we letting these companies continue to make them??? And how does this affect health care costs for everyone, including the non-smokers?

And alcohol–I know it’s legal but so many people are injured by it, including people and children who don’t actually drink it–alcohol related automobile accidents, alcoholism, etc.

I don’t play the lottery. I think it’s a stupid waste of money. They tax that too???

Maybe we should tax to the max all these hazardous (cigarettes, alcohol) or stupid (lottery) items. If cigarettes are too expensive maybe that will help people give them up and the companies close their operations.

I shouldn’t speak about the lottery because I don’t know anything about it. Abuse of alcohol and the destruction it causes, are of moral/ethical concern. I suppose that if alcohol were so overpriced and taxed people would find something else to abuse that’s possibly worse.
Click to expand...
Are you really really advocating they outlaw alcohol? Maybe you should read up on prohibition and the effect it had on organized crime in the United States.
 
aspawloski4th said:
Drinking the alcohol doesn’t directly hurt anyone.
Click to expand...
Yes it can. You have a few too many drinks, and you get in your car and you run down a pedestrian or have a head-on collision with another vehicle. Or you are an alcoholic and you have a drink and you are negligent with your children because of the drink, or are abusive to your spouse, or you make an error at work because you had a few swigs from that bottle in your desk drawer…
 
Drawmack said:
Are you really really advocating they outlaw alcohol? Maybe you should read up on prohibition and the effect it had on organized crime in the United States.
Click to expand...
No, I am not. But it is so frustrating to see people hurt by it. I don’t know what the answer is. Innocent children should not have to die because some guy couldn’t keep his drinking in check. I support Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
 
Marfran said:
Yes it can. You have a few too many drinks, and you get in your car and you run down a pedestrian or have a head-on collision with another vehicle. Or you are an alcoholic and you have a drink and you are negligent with your children because of the drink, or are abusive to your spouse, or you make an error at work because you had a few swigs from that bottle in your desk drawer…
Click to expand...
Your drin k didn’t cause the crash, you did by the choices you made.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top