Beneficial taxation

I got it! Just now I heard on the news that soft drinks sweetened with sugar will be taxed. The tax is for our own benefit. It will help reduce obesity in teenagers and adults who drink sugary drinks. What a novel idea. If soft drinks are taxed, then overweight teens and adults won't drink sugary soft drinks..right?

I suppose that was the thinking behind the cigarette tax too. Tax cigarettes and smokers will quit or cut back, thus benefitting their health.But I'm thinking that smokers probably just paid the higher price.

Now I'm not a smoker and never have been. I really hate to see teenagers light up. And I drink Diet Coke, not sugary drinks But I'm wondering just how far this taxation thing is going to go. Will they tax donuts because they have too much sugar? If they do, will consumers stop consuming donuts? Will they tax grocery store cakes which have high sugar content?

What about ice cream? Would 11 percent sugar content get a reduced tax over the 28 percent sugary ice cream? Will they next put a tax on bread so that consumers will cut back on carbohydrates, thus improving their health.

Will they tax potato chips which are known fatteners? At least, most of them.

How about popcorn? Some popcorns have lots of butter, extra butter, while other popcorn has lots of salt or low salt. Would the buttery popcorn be taxed more than no butter corn in order to benefit the popcorn eater, health wise?

Will they tax driver's licenses so that drunk drivers won't drive.

Will they tax most canned goods because they contain too much sodium? How about kraut?

I can just picture a woman buying groceries. She picks up a package of cookies, then puts them back on the shelf. "No, can't buy that...too much sugar tax."

Then she picks up a pack of sausage. "Nope, there's a fat tax on this," she mutters.

Then she selects canned soup. No, again....too much sodium tax. She could select reduced sodium soup but that, too, has a lot of salt.

She picks up a 50 percent reduced sodium soup and it has 450 sodium while the regular soup is 800 sodium. Would the 800 sodium soup be taxed more than the reduced sodium soup? She selects the 50 percent less sodium soup and puts it in her grocery basket. She's choosing the lesser of two evils.

How about beer? Will there be a tax on beer to keep consumers from putting on excess weight or acting silly at World Series? Or causing a scene at televised music awards? Would that be called a beneficial tax?

I don't know about you but I really appreciate the government taxing certain things for my benefit. I appreciate that someone out there is looking out for my welfare.

I say all that with tongue in cheek, of course.

Detouring from the subject a bit; I'm concerned with one issue of health care reform.

I've already said that I think something needs to be done because there are millions of uninsured in America, people who need insurance. But I'm wondering who would treat them?

Doctors and nurses are already swamped with patients. They seem to be overburdened trying to take care of their regular patients.

Just this past week doctors' offices are inundated with flu patients. In some cities, tents have been set up to accommodate the large number of patients seeking treatment.

Also many doctors are not taking new patients because they have enough already.

Last week I overheard a nurse practitioner in Jonesboro say that she would have 50 patients to attend to the following day. 50 patients? Can you imagine how fast they will be run through the system.

A friend of mine just moved to Jonesboro. She's been looking for a new doctor. She found a doctor that she decided she wanted as her personal physician. She could not get a first appointment with him for several weeks, sometime in late October.

So back to my original thought; who will take care of all the newly insured when a health reform bill passes? That's an issue that needs addressing.

I'm also concerned about senior citizens and how they will be affected with healthcare change. Will they be benefitted or short changed?

Fighting death and taxation can be frustrating, can't it, seniors?