By Peter Galuszka
The French, who often come up with the sine qua non many situations, have done it again.
Like the U.S., the French face a troubled economy and a bloated budget. They face credit ratings downgrades. So, the wily ones have decided to slap on an extra tax on sugary soda, alcohol and tobacco. They may also add extra taxes to their super-rich (no problem from me there).
Sugary soft drinks are enormously profitable for their makers such as the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico. They are also a major cause of obesity in our young and old. Don’t get me wrong. I love soft drinks. I just returned from a trip to DC and my car air conditioner was out. So, once home, I popped open a can of Coke. But this was a little, itty-bitty can, not the 64-ounce monsters you can get at WaWa or 7-11.
I don’t smoke, so I troubles me not if they tax cigarettes many times what they do now. Virginia’s tax rates are rather low for a product that kills 400,000 Americans each year and will annihilate 1 billion globally during this century, according to the World Health Organization.
Alcohol: ditto. I have cut back although I do enjoy a couple of fingers of decent bourbon at the end of a long day. I am willing to pay extra for it.
The French have no problem with vices. So, they understand that it is perfectly OK to tax them extra in tough times. I think they will get something like $16 billion for soft drinks alone, but I could be wrong. It is also OK by me, as Warren Buffett says, to tax the ultra-rich. How much alpha can you stand from your hedge fund anyway?
And it’s a lot better than getting your budget straight on the backs of the poor. That’s what Gov. Bob McDonnell is doing to get his $545 million surplus. He’s cheating our kids out of textbooks and school buses. The Medicaid poor get fewer payments for their hospitals, nursing homes and personal assistants. I guess the rich, who face no such cuts, are more worthy. And, next time you are in a car wreck, the EMT might be a couple of minutes late thanks to McDonnell’s cuts of emergency equipment.
This may not go well with assorted Baconauts and Boomergeddons. But what does Jim Bacon know anyway? He probably can’t even make a decent souffle!
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