NYC's ban on suggary drinks overturned

[King]

Republicans: Large sodas are unhealthy, so I choose not to drink them.
Democrats: Large sodas are unhealthy, I want them banned for everyone.

Then liberals claim they're for individual rights. Hypocrites.

And your position on marijuana...

[King]

Republicans: Large sodas are unhealthy, so I choose not to drink them.
Democrats: Large sodas are unhealthy, I want them banned for everyone.

Then liberals claim they're for individual rights. Hypocrites.

And your position on marijuana...

One's illegal, the other's not, "King".

So, if large sodas were made illegal, you would flip on this issue?

[King]

I prefer a calorie tax on junk food sales collected with all income going toward a tax subsidy on produce.

[King]

I prefer a calorie tax on junk food sales collected with all income going toward a tax subsidy on produce.

That would be awesome! And make the poor much healthier.

There's so much that can done with sales taxes without creating a government bureaucracy that could solve all of our nations problems.  Cash registers and bar code pricing is so advanced these days that these things could be collected and redistributed without any sort of meddling.  It's a shame there's no place on the political spectrum for it.

[King]

I prefer a calorie tax on junk food sales collected with all income going toward a tax subsidy on produce.

That would be awesome! And make the poor much healthier.

There's so much that can done with sales taxes without creating a government bureaucracy that could solve all of our nations problems.  Cash registers and bar code pricing is so advanced these days that these things could be collected and redistributed without any sort of meddling.  It's a shame there's no place on the political spectrum for it.

You'd need an operation to monitor tax collections, and an operation to determine who's eligible to get the money and how much. 

Yes, but that's not very difficult in today's retail environment.  As terrible comedians like to point out, cashiers don't make change anymore.  Monitoring tax collections may simply be observing that rates are set properly in registers.

New Mexico has a food exemption system in place for its sales tax, though it's very broad ("restaurant" goods are taxed and "raw" goods are not).  A lot of other states do, too.  There doesn't seem to be much oversight attached, yet when I go to Starbucks or Kroger, I know that at Starbucks a bottled water (raw) won't be taxed but a latte (prepared) will and while bananas won't at Kroger and bakery prepared donuts will be; and zero time is spent outside of the register's computer to figure it out.  And of course booze and smokes are taxed even more.  Adding a subsidy rate to raw produce would be very simple IMO.

Experimentation would be required to perfect it, but I definitely think it could work.

[King]

I prefer a calorie tax on junk food sales collected with all income going toward a tax subsidy on produce.

you'd be popular in the midwest.  Nothing they like better than produce subsidies.  Especially those favoring corn and other ethanol-producing crops.

I'm not for any of it, myself.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think you're parodying the perfect congressman.  Let's tax fructose-containing foods, then use the tax to subsidize the growers of the fructose, who will grow more fructose, sell more fructose, and we'll get more taxes on that fructose.

It's all circular, and all very clever.

I'm for letting folks grow what they want, smoke what they grow, and eat what they grow but don't smoke, all without any subsidies or consumption taxes.

I think I'm becoming a libertarian in my old age.  I think you are too. 

I'm not talking about subsidizing the farmers.  I'm talking about subsidizing the final good at the stores.