Sin Taxes

An article on ethicsdaily.com addressing so-called sin taxes came to the following conclusion:

There's just one thing wrong with sin taxes -- they aren't big enough.

I disagree, so I found the author's blog, and left the following comment:

Hi Tony,

I found your blog after reading this article on ethicsdaily.com. I would have to join Gene in disagreeing with the idea that sin taxes are good.

I am a Christian, a Baptist, and aware of the dangers of alcohol. But taxes tend to make government dependent on those sins. Many states use tobacco taxes to pay for health care programs, so the last thing they want is for people to actually quit smoking. A sin tax allows the government to "profit" from people's poor choices.

I reconcile my no sin tax position with Christian faith by seeing the trajectory of the Bible as one going from law to spirit. Jesus spoke about intent matching behavior. The right laws may help, and I would of course prefer people not to destroy their lives with alcohol, drugs, or sex, but people have to freely come to understand WHY they should change their spirit and live a more disciplined life.

And going back to my point about government benefiting from people's sin - I would not consider it proper for me (as a Christian) to open a business that profits from man's vices, and therefore do not support a government policy that does the same.

I am fairly new to leaving comments on other people's blog, so I hope I did not come across as trollish, but he gave his opinion and invited comments, so I obliged.

I think the war on drugs is stupid, but I am not among those that say "legalize, regulate, and tax the hell out of it." The last thing government needs is to become dependant on any new revenue, much less those based on vice. And, unfortunately, many in society equate legality with morality, so legalizing drugs would send the wrong message.

I prefer the idea of simply de-felonizing drugs (like prostitution in most states), so that our prisons are not full of non-violent drug offenders. States should be allowed to decide whether to allow the growth, trade and prescription of medical marijuana, and perhaps other "natural" drugs. I think these measures would make the drug trade safer, and perhaps untie it from the gangs and ghettos that enslave so many black and Hispanic youth, without implicitly approving the use of drugs.