Blind Taxes

Several Years ago New York City Mayor, Mike Bloomberg, raised cigarette taxes as part of his anti-smoking crack down in New York city. His hope at the time was that higher cigarette prices would encourage smokers to stop smoking. This plan obviously did not work for those who are strongly addicted to nicotine. And of course Mr. Bloomberg knew this. His underline hope was really to just increase revenue for the city by breaking the backs of tax payers, as shown in his recent cancellation of the NYPD Academy class but yet finding the funds to hire more traffic agents to go out and issue more parking tickets.

All the cigarette tax hike was able to accomplish was to create a crime that didn’t exist before the hike. Bootleg cigarette sales. More and more, cigarettes are being driven in to the city from out of state, purchased in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania, where the over inflated taxes don’t exist, they are then driven into New York city by the van loads, fitted with a phony NYS tax stamp and peddled on the streets from anywhere to $4-$5 a pack. Way cheaper than the legally sold $7.50 Bloomberg packs.  These cheaper, illegal cigarettes are sold in most street corners the same way drugs are sold. This has created a headache for Bloomberg who uses police resources which could be used elsewhere, to crack down on a crime that didn’t exist before his greedy tax hike.

And now New York Governor Patterson is following in Bloomberg’s steps. He has proposed a tax bill which would place a tax on itune purchases, gasoline, beer, cable TV, drivers’ licenses, and non-diet soft drinks.

Whats next? Taxing the air we breathe? Are we going to be mandated to check into a clinic at the end of each fiscal year to have a pulmonary function test to determine how much oxygen intake our bodies produced for the year and tax us individually on that amount? Will those those who suffer from asthma  get a tax break?

The only other state which taxes Internet purchases is the long corrupt and semi-communist state of New Jersey.

Are you blind Governor Patterson? Have you not seen the crime that Bloomberg’s cigarette tax hike created? Your itune tax plan will only  increase another crime which already exists, Internet pirating. ipod users will find other illegal means by which to obtain their music.

Don’t you liberals get it? Higher taxes are not the answer. Stop breaking our backs for your mismanagement, corruption and incompetency. JP