Send all Tory tax addicts to rehab
GRABBING a can of something sweet on the way to work tomorrow (we can’t all eat granola, they’d run out), you might notice it’s suddenly gotten a bit more expensive.
The new soft drinks tax comes into effect in the morning. But why does the Government seem to think the answer to all our social ills is yet more taxes?
Obesity? Tax on sugar. NHS crisis? Tax on cigarettes. Climate change? Tax on petrol. And cars. And roads. And probably glove compartments if they thought they’d get away with it.
Who is honestly looking at a pack of cigarettes going: “I’ll have one if they’re 51p each but I am NOT paying 53p a time to ruin my lungs and reduce my life expectancy.”
You don’t see people stood outside Wetherspoons in the cold chain-smoking and think: “Oooh, they’re doing well, they must have had a promotion.” And you won’t see people with a can of Fanta tomorrow and think “Living the dream!” Not unless your dreams are very low on aspiration.
Where next for this ridiculous strategy? A tax on arts degrees to encourage students to take maths and science subjects? “Yes the books on Picasso are more expensive, we wouldn’t want our young people reading too many of them, would we?” Students would start trading unlicensed watercolours on the black market. “Pssst, wanna buy some under-thecounter duck egg blue?”
Completely unsurprisingly, despite all the lifestyle taxes so far, we haven’t ended up with a healthier society – we’ve ended up with a debt crisis. People spending money they can’t afford, and half of it floating straight back into the Government’s pockets.
Waiting until people are addicted and then ramping up the price and destroying their lives with ever-escalating debt is what nasty drug-dealing gangsters do in B-movies. I’m forced to wonder if Theresa May is secretly being played by Christopher Walken. It’s possible, right?
How about a bit less stick and a bit more carrot? I’m not suggesting taxes can’t ever be used to encourage behavioural changes but there has to be balance. Instead of always increasing fuel taxes, make public transport better and cheaper. Instead of taxing sugary drinks, make sports and fitness activities cheaper and accessible.
Where I live there are bars, pubs, tobacconists, betting shops and fast food places everywhere, but it’s a very long walk to the leisure centre and it’s still a fiver for a swim and a lukewarm shower. Let’s make it easier for people to make good choices rather than just punishing them financially for bad ones. Is it too much to ask that our democratically-elected Government be a bit more sympathetic than Walter White? At least he had a good reason to need the money – living in a country without a brilliant NHS like ours.
The truth is while we’re addicted to sugary drinks and cigarettes, the Tories are addicted to taxing the poor. It’s time they all hit rehab.
How about a bit less stick and more carrot?