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Liquor and gambling, that's the answer
Cities and states are desperate for revenue, and I think they're starting to crack. Georgia's having a debate about whether to begin selling booze on Sundays. Opponents say it would be "one more tear" in the state's moral fabric. Yesterday, Philadelphia officials debated whether to charge an admission fee to people thrown in jail.
What they didn't seem to realize at this Philadelphia budget meeting is that "booking fees" are fairly common around the country. They're generally $20 to $50 per person who's booked at the jail. Think of all the revenue Philly's been missing out on!
Meanwhile, Baltimore might turn to simulated slot machines for more money.
In California, governor Schwarzenegger wants to tax rounds of golf and amusement park visits. He also wants to make people pay taxes for taking their animals to the vet.
I think Nevada Assemblyman Joe Hardy has it right:
"We're doing desperate things in desperate times in desperate ways to respond to a desperate crisis."
Let's see. On my brief list here we have booze, gambling, crime and taxes on fun and puppies.
I love when government takes the high road.
Regarding booking fees for jails, if we ever get around to prosecuting some of the fine folks responsible for the near-collapse of our financial system, and these fine folks end up with prison sentences, I'd like to see us bring back the good, old-fashioned debtors' prison. No Club Fed for these guys, nosir.
"Oh, you want a heated room? That'll be $1000 per night. A bed, you say? Another $1000 per night. A television? Ditto." They'd clean their own toilets, grow their own food, and generally live like the rest of us who are being forced to bail out the institutions that they destroyed. If we do this right, our new "TARP Manor" could help reimburse the taxpayer for said bailouts, not to mention "incentivizing" other CEOs to straighen up and fly right.
Vindictive? Who, me?! Nah...
bottom line: if you like it and buy it...
the GOV's gonna tax it even more. internet
access? per KB/MB/whatever. DVR? per program.
alcohol? per proof. of course, the eventual
pot legalization will start in some state,
just like the lottery, and it will spread.
Fees for going to jail are unjust piling on for most criminals. When laws are passed that make criminals pay for legal fees, pay for going in, pay for each day in jail, and pay to get out I suppose the law makers are thinking of high rolling Enron criminals and rich drug lords. In reality, most crimes are committed by poor people is poor circumstances. If they had money, they would not need to commit crimes. Then once they break their social contract, get caught, and go to jail they have an additional burden on their ability to ever be a productive member of society: A criminal record. Would you hire an ex-convict? Would you pay for goods or services from a known ex-convict? So, the unjust piling on of penalties is that the convicted criminal can not get a job, and the first day out of the pen there are hundreds or thousands of fees and penalties waiting for them. As a society, we might as well put a scarlet symbol on the forehead of every ex-con, a dollar sign with a line through it.
So let me get this right, Philly is going to start charging you for going to jail in addition to arresting you. Hrmmm like these people are going to ever pay. It makes the Philly jail sound like a club where you have to do something stupid and then you get charged to join.
Georgia, Connecticut and others should just give it up in terms of the blue laws - they are completely ridiculous. And while the legislatures are at it, how about permitting wine sales by grocery stores? What's the difference between buying beer in the grocery store and wine? I've seen people guzzle beer, but I've never seen someone guzzle wine!
It's time we stopped trying to give benefits to the liquor industry that we don't to others - defined distributors, barriers to entry, legislated hours. Let's open it up to competition - and more sales taxes as sales increase.
