6 ms·

So let's tax the poor Americans so they get even poorer.

by newen 6y ago

icedistilled 6y ago
Do you disapprove of taxes on alcohol or cigarettes as well? Or are sodas special?
- newen 6y ago
  Yes, I disapprove of them too. I prefer the anti-whatever campaigns. The "got milk?" one worked pretty well! It's so easy for rich people to look down their noses at the vices of poor people and tax the hell out of them. I find that whole worldview disgusting.
woodandsteel 6y ago
You don't offer any other approach. So I am going to assume you probably think soda drinking is a good thing, but don't want to come right out and say it.
treeman79 6y ago
I’m always torn on this one. I value low taxes and freedom, and personal responsibility. However it wasn’t until mid 20s when I started feeling weird after drinking soda that I started realizing it was damaging my body. It was many years laterthat I realized diet drinks were also bad. Information is out there, but people are amazing at ignoring it. I talk to kids all the time about sugar addiction. They understand it. They also have zero sled control around it. Things for them fall into the category of “this specific Brand of food/drink is good/bad” Other part is I grew up with food pyramid. Being taught by government that carbs were good helped re-enforced a lot of poor choices. Was a slow realization over mangy years that growers were using government to pump out bad information.
- newen 6y ago
  Yeah, I think educating the population is the right approach. Of course, mistakes like the food pyramid is very hard to overcome since at the time you did have scientists advocating for the food pyramid, you have lobbyists influencing the government, and various other corruption problems. Removing government corruption is just something that has to be overcome in general. But sin taxes are just a bad idea since you end up punishing people who are doing the sin, can make the poorest people poorer which can potentially spiral. Sure, the non-sinners get to feel good since they are punishing the sinners, they can get money from the sinners to do good things with it. They just feel a great sense of righteousness from it. For what? For making things more expensive for poor people. Instead of reaching out to people and educating them about why it's bad, etc.

So let's tax the poor Americans so they get even poorer.

by newen 6y ago

So let's tax the poor Americans so they get even poorer.

icedistilled 6y ago

Do you disapprove of taxes on alcohol or cigarettes as well? Or are sodas special?

newen 6y ago
Yes, I disapprove of them too. I prefer the anti-whatever campaigns. The "got milk?" one worked pretty well! It's so easy for rich people to look down their noses at the vices of poor people and tax the hell out of them. I find that whole worldview disgusting.

woodandsteel 6y ago

You don't offer any other approach. So I am going to assume you probably think soda drinking is a good thing, but don't want to come right out and say it.

treeman79 6y ago

I’m always torn on this one. I value low taxes and freedom, and personal responsibility. However it wasn’t until mid 20s when I started feeling weird after drinking soda that I started realizing it was damaging my body. It was many years laterthat I realized diet drinks were also bad. Information is out there, but people are amazing at ignoring it. I talk to kids all the time about sugar addiction. They understand it. They also have zero sled control around it. Things for them fall into the category of “this specific Brand of food/drink is good/bad” Other part is I grew up with food pyramid. Being taught by government that carbs were good helped re-enforced a lot of poor choices. Was a slow realization over mangy years that growers were using government to pump out bad information.

newen 6y ago
Yeah, I think educating the population is the right approach. Of course, mistakes like the food pyramid is very hard to overcome since at the time you did have scientists advocating for the food pyramid, you have lobbyists influencing the government, and various other corruption problems. Removing government corruption is just something that has to be overcome in general. But sin taxes are just a bad idea since you end up punishing people who are doing the sin, can make the poorest people poorer which can potentially spiral. Sure, the non-sinners get to feel good since they are punishing the sinners, they can get money from the sinners to do good things with it. They just feel a great sense of righteousness from it. For what? For making things more expensive for poor people. Instead of reaching out to people and educating them about why it's bad, etc.