Itz News to Me

Don asks what lifestyles are the next to be taxed?

This is a danger I used to warn people about more than a decade ago when it became all the rage for the federal and state governments to raise revenues by taxing cigarettes under the guise of paying for health care benefits. My favorite example was putting a tax on coffee because of all the possible carcinogens in coffee.

Of course everyone poopood what I was saying, and I explained that once governments found a lifestyle choice that they could tax with public support that it was only a matter of time before they moved on to the next one. Why not coffee? Millions drink coffee, so the potential revenue benefits are huge. And who doesn’t support healthcare?

 ”When they came for the smokers, I said nothing….” You reap what you sow, America. You thought it was a good idea when they were going after other people, why are you complaining now?

Popularity: 10%

It’s not original thought I’m sure, but Rep. Tancredo says what I’ve been thinking lately myself: Enough’s enough.

The whole Katrina fiasco has been a mess for far too long for one simple reason: unlike other areas of the country, people from New Orleans seem pathologically either unwilling or unable to take responsibility for themselves and their lives. Other areas of the Gulf Coast have moved on and picked up their lives, but in New Orleans it’s a constant waiting game to see how much more wealth can be redistributed from other areas of the country.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: what happened in New Orleans is the complete responsibility of the state and local officials - and, by proxy, the residents who continually voted incompetent and corrupt officials into office again and again. They knew for 40 years that the levee system was inadequate, but rather than spend all those tourist tax dollars on fixing it, they kept lining their pockets with the proceeds. Then when the inevitable happen they blame people in Washington for their own failures.

I also blame pandering politicians in Washington who would rather throw our tax dollars at the whiners rather tell them that they have a responsibility to not rebuild a city below sea level in a hurricane zone.

You’re free to think what you want, but for me: enough’s enough….

Popularity: 14%

I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but yet another celebrity has gotten caught in his own hypocrisy. This time it’s Bono, lead singer of U2.

Bono has been spending the last few years running around the world chastising governments and their citizenry for not doing enough to deal with social problems. He thinks first-world countries are not spending enough to dig Third World countries out of holes that, in many cases, they have dug for themselves.

You could say it’s an admirable fight, but in order to spend more these countries need to tax their citizenry more. Where else are the revenues going to come from? And therein lies the rub.

Bono makes millions every year in royalties, but he doesn’t much care for actually paying taxes on his millions. So he and his band moved their music-publishing business from Ireland to Netherlands to take advantage of lower tax rates.

I’m all for punishing governments with high tax rates by moving businesses to lower tax rate jurisdictions. But then again, I’m not the one who is running around telling everyone else that they need to pay higher taxes.

Just something to keep in mind the next time he pays a visit to tell us how sad it is that we’re not doing enough for others in need…

Popularity: 52%