It's a Sin to Tax 

We knew this would happen some where, some time. Personally I feel sorry for the residents of Detroit:

Would you like fries with that? Either way, the Detroit city treasury would like a bite. Faced with a $300 million budget hole, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hoping people in this already heavily taxed city won't mind forking over a few extra cents for their Big Macs and Whoppers.

Kilpatrick wants to ask Detroit voters to approve a 2 percent fast-food tax - on top of the 6 percent state sales tax on restaurant meals. The mayor says consumers will barely notice the extra cents at the cash register, but critics say the tax would unfairly burden the poor and hamper economic development.
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Other cities and states have special taxes on prepared food, and some have tried "snack taxes." In New York, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has proposed a 1 percent tax on junk food, video games and TV commercials to fund anti-obesity programs.

I hate sin taxes. I hate special taxes that are meant "change behavior" or pay for the supposed evil results of that behavior, and you should too. I know, you probably don't eat that much fast food and so you don't mind. Kids are too fat you say, and they need to lose weight. This is good tax right?

So let me ask you this. Do you smoke? Do you drink? We tax the hell out of those items. Alcohol taxes have been around since just past the end of the revolution. Cigarette taxes go up almost annually. Supposedly its because the government wants you to quit. Realistically it just wants the cash, and they would be pissed if you actually did quit, because that would end their little gravy train. Isn't that ironic?

I hate these taxes because they make a comparative value judgment on your behavior. Don't smoke or drink either? Don't see the problem yet? What if I were to tell you that in an effort to curb "the problem" of premarital sex, the government is going to create a 5% tax on the sale of condoms, and all other forms of birth control? Wouldn't that suck? After all, dealing with the public ills of STD's, and other problems that arise from the lack of a strong family bond cost the taxpayer millions. It's high time that the people who cause the problem start to pay for it. Starting to see the problem yet? Don't have sex either? What are you... a Quaker?

So why do we tax cigarettes and alcohol and not condoms? Why do we want to tax fast food? And if Detroit is doing this not to change behavior, but instead to make up for a budget shortfall... I then have two questions.

First, why don't they cut out the fat, and reduce useless services? Because nobody likes to admit where the fat is, and nobody has the balls to say something isn't needed. The second question is why not increase property taxes? Well that's simple too. Because then people will really complain because it suddenly affects them. By trying to sneak in this "tiny tax that only affects people who eat fast food", they can convince most people that it won't affect them. Someone else will be paying the bill, so it's ok. Just wait til they come after condoms.