Is it really a sin

While if the money from the extra taxes goes to medical care people probably would not mind it that much, but using higher taxes to force consumers to quit smoking and drinking is not right. Not only does the government try to put a sin tax on tobacco and alcohol they also try to put extra tax on food deemed unhealthy. Families will go without so people can pay the higher tax, and the money from the higher taxes does not always go to the programs it was supposed to go too.

What is sin tax? “Sin taxes” is a popular term for fees charged for guilty pleasures or human indulgence, such as smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. Sin taxes can be defined as those government revenues garnered from the purchase or consumption of resources or services exhibiting the following characteristics: 1. Consumption exhibits an inelastic demand curve. The behavior is addictive. That is, a small change in behavior will generate significant tax revenues yet not eliminate the behavior.

2. The behavior can be considered self-destructive or harmful to the individual. Sinful behaviors generate immediate or long-term personal negative consequences like poor health or obesity.

3. The behavior generates negative externalities— other people suffer. However, sins are often generally, but not universally, considered to be socially undesirable. Consumption of the product or service raises concerns or is generally judged to be counter to socially desirable behaviors or to be dysfunctional in terms of the social welfare. Others suffer from the acts of an individual.” (Lorenzi, 2004) In other words if it is deemed bad for us in an offical way then a sin tax can be added to it wheather the people like it or not.

First, using higher taxes to force consumers to q...

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...drink make the choice to consume these products so why should they be punished by having to pay a higher price? Sin tax has been around as long as anyone can remember and it has never ended well but does that stop the government from implementing them over and over again? No, it does not! We all understand that smoking and drinking are bad for us and possibly, sometime in the future, we may need to have long term care because of using these products we should also have the option of putting the money in to a government fund to help us in the future if needed.

Works Cited

Black, P. A. (2006). 'Sin' Taxes and Poor Households: Unanticipated Effects. South African Journal Of Economics, 74(1), 131-136.

Green, R. (2011). The ethics of sin taxes. Public Health Nursing, 28(1), 68-77.

Lorenzi, P. (2004). SIN TAXES. Society, 41(3), 59-65.