Florida State Budget Woes

In case you don't know, Florida joins so many other states who have serious budget woes. A few weeks ago, the Legislature had a special session to deal with the present problems with the current year. They'll get back together pretty soon to deal with next fiscal year's budget. And it'll be the Groundhog Day all over again.

It's kind of old news right now, but one proposal is to increase "sin taxes": well, mainly on cigarettes. I don't know why politicians always do that. They think that hard times is the best time to increase taxes on stuff everyday folks buy a lot of.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was corresponding with an acquaintance about this issue and I started to blow off some steam. I was going to followup with a blog post, but life got in the way and I've done no blogging since then. Well, I re-read my thoughts of then, and find it said just about everything I would say now. So, here it is exactly as I wrote then:

It's typical of the state to try to raise "sin" taxes. Been done before, but Florida is much lower than many states.

But that doesn't make it right.

It hurts the "little folks" that so many politicians seem concerned about when they talk, but then forget these folks in their actions.

It will not raise the amounts projected. These taxes never do. It may encourage people to stop smoking (a benefit) but that only reduces the financial effect the increased tax is supposed to provide. Cigarettes are already a big bootlegged commodity. Look for more of that.

But my main objection is: I'm against these types of taxes...period. Many taxes are necessary to provide essential services. But trust government to keep sticking it to the people. I'm libertarian enough to be against any taxes on the free behavior of humans.

Besides, these "sin taxes" are only for stuff mom and pop like in their everyday lives. If you have any guts, make a tax on cosmetic surgery, abortion services, condoms and birth control pills, porn of any type, gay bath house memberships (if there are any of them still around)...well, you get my drift. By the way, I'm against taxing these also.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Right in Florida

Since that time there's been even more BS from state schmucks on the need to increase cigarette taxes.

And now the feds are back into it. "The U.S. House this month passed a reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program that includes a 61-cent hike in cigarette taxes to pay for it."

They never seem to have a clue.

I'm a former smoker and I go along with this post from the Babalu Blog:

I may just quit, not for health reasons mind you, but just to spite the greedy politicians who think they can f**k us over at will with confiscatory taxes on a legal activity. If they were so concerned about our health, they'd make tobacco illegal and enforce prohibition on its use. (And we all know how successful prohibition worked before.)

Well said.