News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on 10% of households pay more than 80% of taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. Parent comment

Re:10% of households pay more than 80% of taxes on alcohol a... by lotsofpulp on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @02:28PM (#29004261)
I was under the impression the purpose of vice taxes is due to activities causing societal harm, not self harm.

If it was self harm, then seems like we should start with vice taxes for added sugar and not doing cardio workouts.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:10% of households pay more than 80% of taxes on alcohol a... by skulk on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @02:57PM (#29004680)
Sufficient self harm at scale is societal harm.

> vice taxes for added sugar

At face value, this doesn't seem like a bad idea. I've heard about cities in the US that have a tax on large sugary drinks.

> not doing cardio workouts

It's probably easier to incentivize the good behavior here than punish the absence of it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:10% of households pay more than 80% of taxes on alcohol a... by lotsofpulp on Tuesday October 26, 2021 @03:19PM (#29004964)
The government giving money for doing something versus taking money for not doing something is the same thing. Both are incentives for a certain behavior.
[ Parent | on HN ]