Taxing non-essential items – they will soon have us by the laces
■ It’s wonderful that in April the obesity problems of Ireland will be greatly answered by a sugar tax on the people. Like the tax on the humble plastic carrier bag, a little bit of extra money makes the issues diminish once dosh flows into the Government coffers.
There must be many more non-essential items that would enhance the lives of citizens simply by us paying extra cash for stuff we can well do without.
Shoe laces, for example, are crying out for another tax to be levied on them because of the danger of tripping over an undone one; such a measure would encourage careless folk to walk a bit more carefully in a lace-free pair – and what’s wrong with Velcro anyway?
And what about offsetting the future healthcare costs of all those children packed off to school heavily over-burdened with weighty books which result in potential droopy-shoulders and exhaustion by imposing another modest pay-by-weight tax during school-term?
There’s loads of low-hanging fruit in every household if Revenue knows where to look.
A tax on wearing odd-coloured socks, à la Garret FitzGerald, is another way to go. And why, oh why, have non-smokers and non-drinkers of alcohol been getting away with it for so long?
And there is no tax on gambling in this country... not a lot of people might know this, but sure what’s the problem? It must obviously be a harmless pastime, unlike that extra half spoon of sugar I enjoy on my cornflakes.
Let us soldier on.
Robert Sullivan Bantry, Co Cork