Italian government taxed vaping stuff without all that morale high ground BS that usually comes with it as justification. Drop in tobacco tax revenues got them hurting and they said so frankly and slammed a nearly 60% tax on vaping gear ( VAT comes on top of that ).
And the puritans view is all too well known. The more fun it is, the higher the taxation.
Following that logic, puritans and zealots should be taxed for their grumpiness. Their only fun seems to be not having fun, so let's introduce a sour-face-tax, a foul-mood-tax, add a self-righteous-shmuck surcharge, multiply with the unrelaxed-attitude-adjustment factor and then top off with state and municipal sales tax to boot.
Stranger stuff got taxed - check history books. 'Non olet'
But the original intent of using taxation to control or discourage some things or some activities gave way to the sole purpose of revenue generation long ago. Money, money and more money. Cuz with plenty of income it is easier to hide inept expenditure management. And it is also easier to hide the occasional grab. Where does paid consultancy end and graft begin ? When does a 'contribution for the cause' turn into vote-buying ?
Just imagine if ALL smokers went on strike for just a week or quit altogether. It would be worth it. The reward:
The greatest ever display of bigotry and hypocrisy. All of them standing in line and applauding and glad-handing each other of their resounding success. Officially. Behind their smiling and rechoicing they'll be cursing you and your offspring, for they know that they'd be dancing at their own funeral.
Would be akin to the dinosaurs cheering the incoming meteor....
If they could, they'd come crawling on their knees and beg you to smoke again, so as to keep their livelihood intact but that of course would expose their true nature. To you - and worse - to themselves.
But that's not gonna happen. It'll stay convenient for them. "De-normalizing" you and your habits. Scoffing at you.
But though the may not like you and your addictions or lifestyle, their bible-thumping does not put them above taking your money in form of taxes. Everything swell. So far.
Then vaping happened.
Rattling the very foundation of structures and networks that have established and entrenched themselves over decades.
Of course they gonna tax it. Fed, state, municipal. And BT and BP will whisper to them.
Bt doesn't want the stuff around. BP neither. Healthier folk needs less medication, less hospitalization.
Naw naw, better to keep them hooked on the more toxic stuff...
If they really serious about public health ( nice banner to hide all sorts of atrocities behind ) and the cheeeldrun ( another handy all-purpose justfication for more injustice ) they go very easy on taxing vapes - if at all.
Any taxation putting it on par or even above tobacco products ( and I mean stuff with real tobacco in it- not that what FDA deems it to be by rewriting the laws of chemistry ) demonstrates only one thing. Profits before population. Gain over gencide....
What I could live with : a research penny.
Mandatory surcharge of a cent per ml. To finance a lab that does - UNBIASED - research into vaping. So we can be done with the 'we not know yet so lets ban it' excuses. Remember - the Manhattan Project went ahead despite some scientists saying a very clear 'we don't know yet'. But the stuff they played around with was a LOT livelier than 10% nicbase ...
