Where I live, there is no tax on food, but there is on beer. If we go to the same store and you buy food and I buy beer, I will pay tax and you will not. We made different decisions which effected our level of taxation. But we did so with the rules being applied to us equally, even though the effect was different on each of us.
Two teams playing football, under normal circumstances, play under the same rules, even though the one that scores a touchdown is awarded more points than the one that kicks a field goal. The outcomes are different, but the same rules apply to both. If one team was awarded more points for a touchdown than the other, that would be playing by different rules.
Beer tax is an excise tax. It is a tax on consumption via purchase. That is not the same as a head tax. I can’t believe I have to explain this to people on FR.
Let me put it thus way. I couldn’t get murder law struck down because it discriminates against murderers. Because murderers are not a group; that’s just an action they happen to have performed. Although some make a habit of it. Still, they’re only noticed for it by the government one at a time.
Contrarywise, you can strike down laws that discriminates against black people. Why? Because race is not something you do; it is something you are, or are perceived to be.
Buying beer is something you do. Being in a certain income bracket is something you are.
“If one team were awarded more points for a touchdown than the other, that would be playing by different rules”
That’s a better analogy than between field goals and touchdowns, since it is comparing like with like. Also, it highlights how the diffetence is on the status of the team and not on any action it took.