pahunkboy
Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
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quote:
ORIGINAL: CallaFirestormBW
quote:
ORIGINAL: Moonhead
I'm a bit surprised that so little has been said about tobacco taxes in this thread. Given that most of the "How dare you evil liberals try to stop me from smoking in public!" stuff is coming from people who lean to the right (I get the impression that Termy's a libertarian, to pick one example, and apologise if I have that wrong), I'd have thought they'd be a lot more annoyed about the taxes they're paying for their fags.
I'm an indy, with a bit of a libertarian bent, I guess, and probably just as much of an anarchist bent, under certain circumstances. Maybe I'm best described as an "thoughtful willow" -- I look at situations, evaluate arguments, and balance it against personal responsibility and individual freedom, and then decide where a given policy is going to carry me.
In general, I oppose any laws that restrict an individual person from being able to do whatever xhe pleases with hir body, as long as hir doing so does not cause harm to someone else. For example, I opposed the mandatory vaccination for H1N1 that my employer tried to put into place -- and I agreed that, should I become sick with the flu, I would immediately agree to suspend work, drawing from my accrued vacation pay rather than sick pay, until I was cleared to return by my doctor. (I was one of three people in our department who -didn't- get the flu this season... and none of the three of us got flu shots).
I figure that there -are- long-term costs associated with cigarette smoking. I knew that a long time ago, and for many years, I still chose to smoke. It makes perfect sense to me that I would pay taxes to cover the extra costs of my vice. It would make even MORE sense to me if we had a national health plan where those taxes were actually GOING to something having to do with my health, but I'm not even going to -go- there right now.
There are taxes I find unjust. I think that it is completely unjust that I have to pay both an INCOME tax AND a SALES tax -- one or the other, to fund the running of a lean government with minimal stacks of intrusive laws... yeah, that would work for me... I'd be willing to pay a 15% flat tax on imported items, OR a 15% flat tax on my income, but double taxation bites wienies (and not in a good way).
I believe that people will not learn how to respect one another's private space through "nanny laws" that attempt to compel good manners. I also think that, if someone doesn't want to smell cigarette smoke when they're out in public, they're welcome to choose their venues accordingly, as long as, if -I- want to have a cigarette while I'm out in public, I have the option of having a place where =I= can do so as well.
Freedom isn't freedom if you have to step on someone else's neck to get it.
Thank you for opposing mandatory h1n1 shots. No one in my family got one either. People can decide for themself if they need that vax.
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RE: Pub landlord is first person in Britain to be jaile... - 
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