Back when cigarette taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. increases were justified by politicians on the grounds of paternalism (even though they really just wanted more money), critics argued that the same argument could be applied to other unhealthy activities and products like candy bars or soft drinks. But such criticisms were dismissed as being scare tactics and unrealistic. But now the nannies at groups like the totalitarian Center for the Science in the Public Interest are having their voices heard in the push towards even more state control over our lives (largely through tax policy), much like the American Cancer Society has done over the past two decades on cigarette taxes. Of course, all of this is in the name of public health. (You as an adult aren’t smart enough to make up your own mind about what to drink.)
Policymakers in Maine are the latest to succumb to this pressure of raising money by targeting specific products. This time it goes beyond the usual suspects of cigarettes and alcohol. If you drink soda, you’re now going to pay as much as 22 cents more for a 2-liter bottle. Yes, 22 cents more on that 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, or even generic Sam’s Choice Cola (assuming Wal-Marts are allowed in Maine). This extra revenue is designed to help pay for health care for self-employed individuals and small business owners. Such a policy has basically no justification in sound public finance. Such a policy is likely even regressive given that the tax will disproportionately be borne by low-income Maine residents in order to finance a spending program that disproportionately benefits upper-income residents (those who own businesses and are self-employed).
Critics have complained about the impact it will have on the state’s economy. I say that’s a secondary concern to the fact that politicians in Maine seem to not give a darn about individual freedom. Either way though, let’s raise a toast to more people crossing the border and going into tax-free New Hampshire to buy their alcohol and soda.
Watch out Maine Girl Scouts. You’re (deadly) cookies are likely next.
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