Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Kentucky House passes sin tax

The Kentucky House of Representatives today passed a bill raising taxes on tobacco and alcohol. The bill would double the tax on tobacco and put the 6 percent sales tax on alcohol. The tax increase--which is still a tax increase even though it is on something that we think is more acceptable to tax--was approved in a 66-34 vote largely along party lines.

Good for the House Republicans.

5 comments:

David Adams said...

Good for the good House Republicans or good for the bad House Republicans who voted for this mess?

The target of this tax increase doesn't matter even a little bit. What matters is that the projected revenue from this increase has already been spent. As soon as the next emergency hits -- and it has already been scheduled -- they will be back to raise more taxes. This was just a test vote and key members of the Republican caucus failed the test.

Martin Cothran said...

I meant good for the ones who voted the right way. I'm thankful for small things.

Anonymous said...

The funny thing about this bill is that it causes illicit drug use to rise. Alcohol in particular, though cigarettes as well, are complementary goods in relation to illegal drugs, and so when their price rises it actually causes an increase in demand for the complementary drugs.

The Kentucky legislature just directly caused an increase in demand for recreational drugs.

Ronster said...

Hey Martin,
Could you be a bit more wishy-washy on your stance?

Martin Cothran said...

Was there something wishy-washy about publicly congratulating people for doing what ought to be done?