A Tax on Unpopularity

Following is a letter I wrote to my state representatives regarding the legislature's latest money-making scheme:

Thank you for your service in the interest of the great state of Texas and on the behalf of myself and other citizens whom you represent.

I am writing to encourage you toward fiscal restraint in our government. Money is not the solution to all our problems. Yet the constant message from Austin indicates a contrary view.

Our schools cannot teach effectively - so we're told - unless we give them more money. Well, having been educated in tiny Texas towns, I know better. And I suspect you do also.

And where is all this extra money going to come from? From wherever you can get it, right? So Austin plays the majority against the minority again. "Let's tax something unpopular," you say. "That always works."

I have nothing against democracy, mind you. But if the majority - or in this case, their representatives - are not restrained by principle, democracy becomes tyranny as the majority begin to seize the property and restrict the rights of the minority based on popularity contests.

Would it be right for an elected Congress to seize the fortunes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and divy them up among the rest of America? Of course not. But what if we instead launched a defamation campaign against their consumer habits and then taxed their purchases punitively? Would that be more just? Since they're a minority, who will stop us from confiscating their property? "Tax something unpopular," we say. "That always wins votes."

Obesity is (no pun intended) a growing problem. Why not follow Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's plan to make fatty foods unpopular, and thus create a whole new area of taxable consumption? It worked for cigarettes, after all, and Austin now intends to capitalize on the unpopularity and "political incorrectness" of smoking by making smokers pay for our schools.

Senator, take a stand against these "unpopularity taxes", and for fiscal restraint.