Reply #126: A tax should not be regarded as a PENALTY.

[TahitiNut]

Taxes are the mechanism by which we PAY for what we BUY in self-governance. People who rationalize REGRESSIVE taxation on those least benefited from the very system of governance by which some become appallingly WEALTHY are tyrants - and I don't give a flying fuck whether they call themselves Republican or Democrat. There is nothing equitable about burdening the least benefited with the costs incurred by the most benefited.

The notion that those whose habits lead to their own suffering and death are not yet punished enough and must therefore perform more "community service" to atone for their 'sins' is an appallingly corrupt blame-shifting. It's ethically identiacl to running out on a check at a restaurant and expecting the waitress or waiter to pick up the tab. Fucking corrupt! Theft.

Shit. Even a drunkard knows this - as demonstrated by any discussion of raising taxes on booze or bringing back prohibition. We even have people who advocate for the 'rights' of children to bathe their brains in toxins. Well, it seems that brain damage is far more extensive than imagined.