whyroots

 
 

"We must patiently explain why taxing or regulating noble things (like work, saving, and entrepreneurial risk-taking) means you’ll get less of what makes America great and why subsidizing other things (like idleness and single parenthood) means you’ll get more of the destructive behaviors that ultimately will drag us down."

— An excerpt from a piece in the National Review by the vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation.

Huh. So should we flip it around? Tax single parenting and idleness? That doesn’t seem like it would yield much. If watching tv made me money, I’d be a wealthy man. And how does one tax idleness, anyway? Monetarily quantifying an intangible thing—how do I love thee? Let me count the ways in Euro, or Yen. Whichever currency has more festive, lovey-dovey colors.

We tax cigarettes, isn’t that a step in the right direction? If we legalized prostitution we could tax that, too. Ah, though I suppose that falls in the entrepreneurial side of things. And also, if we follow the logic of the quote above, taxation curbs behavior, and we don’t want to curb sex (not us liberals, that is!).

Perhaps we should tax moral platitudes—the US would make a fortune out of smarmy right-wing commentators making idiotic statements, par example:

Glen Beck: “Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however.” Snap!

Rush Limbaugh: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies." Sound of cash register opening.

-- Jonah H. Green

 


Comments

Jacob Levine

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:55:25

Hey, there's a really good idea in here: the single-mother tax! If we just levy a fat ol' tax on these indulgently immoral women, they'll be deterred by the disincentive into marrying responsible men and having normal lives like the rest of us! Because single motherhood is a dirty luxury, like cigarettes (which they also love). Someone call Mike Franc!

 



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