More Regressive Taxation on Working / Middle-Class People, This Time a Booze Tax

Policy Wonks in DC To Cripple Your Way of Life

The cigarette tax wasn't enough for these people, but it's progressive think tankers in DC we're talking about here. Nothing makes these people happier than finding new and improved ways to extort money from rubes in flyover land under the guise of "it's not good for you". Matthew Yglesias, the same bonehead who proposed cars being manufactured to not exceed 75 mph, brings attention to a gentleman who says alcohol taxes just aren't high enough. From Prospect:

Over the past 50 years, Cook reports, the inflation-adjusted value of federal liquor taxes declined by a factor of six while the inflation-adjusted value of federal beer taxes declined by a factor of 3.6. Both taxes are well below what is required to recoup the alcohol-related “externalities” problem drinking imposes on the community.

Typical nanny-state nonsense to socially engineer the rest of America to be like some MoveOn.org party in the Upper West Side. Understandingly, alcohol is primarily enjoyed by the middle and working-class to cope with the crushing bane of existence, despite some of liquor's problems. Furthermore, alcohol is most consumed by red states outside the bible belt (see Time's interactive map). Why don't they impose a tax on crap elite, urban white people prefer like Pilates Balls, Emo Glasses, or Yoga Mats? America is a cosmopolitan place with a vast array of interests and activities for the citizenry. Why do certain groups of people always feel like they have to attack those different from them?