I live in a state that charges a personal property tax on cars. What’s next – personal property tax on my shoes, clothes, jewelry, cell phone, computer and my furniture!!! I thought I already paid taxes when I bought my car – why I do have to keep paying taxes year after year for something I already paid tax on!!! WHY???

It sounds good on paper, so lets do it. No consideration for the administrative costs, impact to free speach, specific allocation of funds (if there is surplus money, where does THAT go!), etc…

Plus, although constitutionally chartered to enact taxes for (one of) the purpose of affecting behavior, enacting this law implies that there is a linkage between internet usage and child exploitation that just does NOT exist.

This is like the Texas law, being examined in the courts now, that takes a $5 surcharge on strip club admission fees and allocates it to a fund for battered women. I’m NOT FOR the strip clubs NOR AGAINST the battered women, but this type of tax is lunacy, for the reasons mentioned above.

While we’re at it….

Let’s tax Sushi joints and give the money to hospitals because people MIGHT get sick eating sushi.

Let’s tax shoes and give the money to violent crime victims because people who buy shoes MIGHT rob or hurt people.

Let’s tax tires because people who buy tires drive cars, and anyone who drives a car MIGHT rob a bank.

It’s rediculous.

IF you’re going down that road, let’s tax MySpace and Facebook, whose FREE facilities bring predator and prey in to dangerous proximity….. If you have to have Mommy and Daddy pay by credit card to sign up for a Facebook account, YOU MIGHT NOT DO IT without their permission! Or how about a mandatory “computer-based training” module on how to avoid cybercrimes as part of signing up for these “free” websites?

It’s sickeningly amusing how the inept are always ready to lead the charge.

I am sick to death of tax increases on specific products/services to fund any/all specific causes. If the government can’t pay for services, they should (a) eliminate the service (b) eliminate another less necessary service or, as a last resort, (c) increase the general tax rate. It’s called budgeting, and it’s something all we average working people have to do on a daily basis.

I’m fed up with zeroing in on homeowners, tourists, vehicle owners, telephone users, smokers, drinkers etc – and I’m dead against stuffing a general expense down the throats of a particular industry or consumer. Ever notice how the ones doing the stuffing are rarely the ones that have to do the swallowing?

If a program is important enough to warrant a tax increase, then everyone should foot the bill for it. It’s way too easy for governments to institute tax increases when they can convince voters that someone else will have to pay for it.