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Will E-cigarettes Become A Taxing Experience ?

Will E-cigarettes Become A Taxing Experience ?

There is a push to tax e-cigarettes like regular cigarettes.  The latest threat was in Utah.  The debate centers around how good or bad these things are for people, but there may be another factor at work, which is a problem created by sin taxes.  The taxes may first be pitched to discourage the bad behavior, but the taxes are a revenue source.  If they successfully redirect behavior, revenue declines.  Consider this story from Sacramento about the fiscal havoc wreaked by people becoming more scrupulous about obeying the parking laws.  There you are talking about fines rather than taxes, but the distinction is often pretty thin.

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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.