Single Item Taxes

[Rath]

Kasz216 said:

Soleron said:

donathos said:

Words Of Wisdom said:

...

 

Here's the thing.  I'm uncomfortable with basing laws (including "purposeful taxation" like this) on what we think an "ideal" society would be like.

Certain laws, I understand--against murder, against theft, against arson, etc.

But when we start getting into "ideally"... I mean, I could see someone arguing, not without justification, that "ideally" nobody would waste their time playing videogames--they would do more productive things instead.

But taxing videogames into oblivion is the next best thing to banning them outright.

The difference between smoking and video games is that smoking has no possible benefit. It is demonstrably bad for you physically, it is addictive so people don't get the choice to stop using it, it is expensive, it makes you feel bad physiochemically (and you don't feel any better than a non-smoker when you do have one) and it is a threat to society in general via passive smoking. Games, when used in moderation (lol) don't cause harm to you, genuinely make you feel better, aren't physically addictive and don't hurt anyone else.

If there was even one benefit then it would be a debate.

 

Smoking is fine in moderation too.... everything is fine in moderation.

Well except like rape and arson and murder and such.

No smoking is still toxic in moderation. Your body can't deal with some of the poisons in tobacco smoke at all, so unlike cannabis or alcohol it can't process it. Thats why even light smokers suffer from lung damage.

http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/14/5/315