# Should We tax vices **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 3, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043 "2008-02-03T01:25:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/1 "2008-02-03T01:25:10Z")
Mike Huckabee recently suggested that taxing drug dealers and prostitutes would help lift our economy. I would suggest that is a self evident truth. Is there any good reason why should not regulate and tax vices? I am ItS r~ ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/2 "2008-02-03T01:29:09Z")
In thinking about the $$ of taxes added on to the price of alcohol & tobacco, I think you’re already too late. As for the state of Nevada, I’m not sure what taxes are placed on the transactions that take place at the legal brothels. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/3 "2008-02-03T01:36:14Z")
Suggestion understood. Clarification: Is there any good reason why We should not regulate and tax all vices? And yes, I believe there was a tax crisis when a local brothel went under. ItS Peace r~ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/4 "2008-02-03T01:40:45Z")
We pretty much do already. If they are legal, they are taxed. If they are illegal, they are fined when caught. Then you get into the thorny problem of defining “vice.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/5 "2008-02-03T01:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=rwjefferson] And yes, I believe there was a tax crisis when a local brothel went under. [/QUOTE] Went under or went down? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/6 "2008-02-03T01:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=rwjefferson] Is there any good reason why should not regulate and tax vices? [/QUOTE] Who gets to define "vice ? Or is it only **certain people’s** definition of vice that counts ? How about cars ? Or churches ? Or fatty foods ? Or meat ? Or kids ? Or men ? All of those have been defined as vices by various people. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/7 "2008-02-03T02:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=rwjefferson] Mike Huckabee recently suggested that taxing drug dealers and prostitutes would help lift our economy. [/QUOTE] Can we have a cite to back that up? If you tax something, you have to recognize it as being legal. As for taxing vices, I’m all for it. Just let me be the one to define what a vice is. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/8 "2008-02-03T02:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] We pretty much do already. If they are legal, they are taxed. If they are illegal, they are fined when caught. Then you get into the thorny problem of defining “vice.” [/QUOTE] Why does defining vice seems thorny to you? A vice law is simply a law that persecutes sin as though it were crime. These laws are in themselves crime. Prohibition is not regulation; prohibition or denial of liberty is crime. ItS Peace r~ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/9 "2008-02-03T02:13:06Z")
Yes, but what is a “sin?” Personally, I might classify “Voting Republican” as a sin. Therefore, every Republican ballot should be taxed. Same thing for fake boobs. Every pair should have to pay a tax. Ditto SUVs, ketchup on hotdogs and cell phones in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/10 "2008-02-03T02:22:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Why does defining vice seems thorny to you? A vice law is simply a law that persecutes sin as though it were crime. These laws are in themselves crime. Uh, if there’s a law against something, then it _is_ crime. That’s pretty much the definition of “crime”, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/11 "2008-02-03T02:23:25Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Can we have a cite to back that up? [/quote] It was a sound bite on a news channel. For now, you will just have to take my word that I saw it. (If I said his solution was bass-ackwards would you be more inclined to believe it?) [QUOTE=John Mace] If you tax something, you have to recognize it as being legal. [/quote] Bingo. [QUOTE=John Mace] As for taxing vices, I’m all for it. Just let me be the one to define what a vice is. [/QUOTE] vice: a sin persecuted as crime Please tell how your definition differs from mine. ItS Liberty r~ ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/12 "2008-02-03T02:31:03Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Yes, but what is a “sin?” Personally, I might classify “Voting Republican” as a sin. Therefore, every Republican ballot should be taxed. Same thing for fake boobs. Every pair should have to pay a tax. Ditto SUVs, ketchup on hotdogs and cell phones in the theater. [/QUOTE] I am not necessarily saying I disagree with all that you say. Yet a sin is any transgression. And judgment and condemnation of sins is the just authority only of god, not of Caesar. I am ItS r~ ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/13 "2008-02-03T02:36:18Z")
If it has an externality or outside price to society that isn’t adequately priced into the original product, I say tax it. So, I’ll include prostitution, alcohol, gasoline, fatty foods, and handguns. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/14 "2008-02-03T02:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Uh, if there’s a law against something, then it _is_ crime. That’s pretty much the definition of “crime”, isn’t it? [/QUOTE] Liberty is the peaceful and well regulated pursuit of happiness. Crime is the denial of liberty. You are correct if you mean that a “crime” In Name Only is whatever the tyrant wishes to call crime. I am ItS r~ ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/15 "2008-02-03T02:55:48Z")
Mike Huckabee is an evangelical Christian and an extreme social conservative, and it should be obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of American politics that he doesn’t support the legalization of narcotics and prostitution. His comments were in the context of replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, which he defended on the ground that people earning money outside of the law escape the income tax. The legalization and taxation of such activities may or may not be a good idea, but it has nothing to do with Huckabee. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/16 "2008-02-03T04:21:33Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Mike Huckabee is an evangelical Christian and an extreme social conservative, and it should be obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of American politics that he doesn’t support the legalization of narcotics and prostitution. His comments were in the context of replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, which he defended on the ground that people earning money outside of the law escape the income tax. The legalization and taxation of such activities may or may not be a good idea, but it has nothing to do with Huckabee. [/QUOTE] I did more or less say his solution, like most of his politics, was wrong-headed. Yet if by ‘evangelical’ you mean ‘Christian In Name Only’, I will agree whole heartedly. For I have seen no sign that Mike Huckabee serves In the Spirit of god and christ. Although I will admit Mike cloaks himself in righteous Words, I do not see Mike Huckabee as standing with jesus against those that judge and condemn sin as crime. In point of fact, I see Mike as campaigning to cast the first stone against the sin of gay. Why should we not regulate and tax that which is not truly crime? ItS Peace r~ ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/17 "2008-02-03T06:06:22Z")
[QUOTE=rwjefferson] Yet a sin is any transgression. And judgment and condemnation of sins is the just authority only of god, not of Caesar. [/QUOTE] God is both nonexistent, and if he WAS existent, neither an American citizen, nor elected. And if you believe in the Bible ( and if you don’t, why believe in him ? ), he’s a genocidal, megalomaniacal monster. It’s not his “just authority” to condemn anything. [QUOTE=rwjefferson] Yet if by ‘evangelical’ you mean ‘Christian In Name Only’, I will agree whole heartedly. For I have seen no sign that Mike Huckabee serves In the Spirit of god and christ. [/QUOTE] You are a Christian if you say you are a Christian; there is no objective definition. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/18 "2008-02-03T13:00:43Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] His comments were in the context of replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, which he defended on the ground that people earning money outside of the law escape the income tax. [/QUOTE] So your local hooker or drug dealer would make sure to add the national sales tax to your sex and/or drug purchase and forward the money to the government? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/19 "2008-02-03T13:19:16Z")
I don’t think we should tax vices on the sole basis that they are vices. I’m generally suprised when religious people suggest it, to be honest, since generally they already have assurances that such vices will be dealt with. Anyway, something being a vice is a moral judgement, and the government has no business legislating a certain view of morality. [QUOTE=rwjefferson] ItS Peace r~ [/QUOTE] What does this mean? ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043/20 "2008-02-03T15:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] Anyway, something being a vice is a moral judgement, and the government has no business legislating a certain view of morality. [/QUOTE] Well said. That nails it as tight as a duck’s ass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-we-tax-vices/436043.md?page=2)