[ivegotabrain]

What'll they think of next?

[Fee]

How about a $1 tax on booze served in gay bars to take care of people with AIDS???

[toddst]

What'll they think of next?

Anything to tax everything IMO. No doubt this is viewed by legislators as a "luxury tax" since regular folks don't spend their money on high-priced coffee! Doesn't that make sense to you?

What amazes me is reducing government, thereby lowering costs, never enters their minds.

[Consort]

Trouble is brewing.

[nothingnew]

What'll they think of next?

Do you breathe?

FMCDH

[NittanyLion]

What'll they think of next?

A tax on any behavior without a powerful enough voting bloc to tip the balance in the next election.

[Dakmar]

Probably putting birth control in the espresso to complete the segregation of the class system: Those who have children and those who pay for them. Sorry, I know that's a little rude and tinfoil as all getout, but why should smokers, beer drinkers, or coffee drinkers be expected to pay a bigger burden for childcare than carrot eaters, people who buy supermarket tabloids, or skiiers?

I can tell you what they won't think of - letting people keep their own money to use it as they see fit, which may or may not include early child care.

[Hostage]

I'm in Seattle and tune into the local news for weather in the morning. I have to suffer through their lame attempts at propagandizing this issue.

Such as flash polls showing an overwhelming support for the tax "for the children", and quick pans of children playing in a playground.

It makes me red mad.

I and others went into a Mexican retaurant in Lake Chelan last week and we put our extra quarters in a cardboard display for children in need. The cardboard frame contained a simple appeal and seemed genuine. We felt good afterwards. We do alot of giving when the cause appears genuine.

But if I had been "required", forced by government to give that quarter to the restaurant, I would have felt bad about giving, because it wouldn't be giving; it would have been a penalty for my lifestyle choices.

A local talk show host John Carlson ran an interview with the person behind this tax proposal. The guy is a director of a daycare system. He sounded like a total loser. Someone called in and asked why he didn't single out sales of Barbie and Ken dolls, beers at the ballfield and so forth. His response was to the effect "because we didn't".

But the real irritant in this matter is the cheerleading for this tax by the local media. I always knew they were lame, just didn't think they were deliberate in their lies.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I brew my own Expresso at home and I buy the coffee beans direct from Hawaii (less expensive and much better than supermarket chain coffee). But if this bad tax passes, then in the future for the few times I need purchase Expresso at a local cafe,
I will be carrying exact change and I will take away 10 cents from the cashier and throw it in the tip jar, or better put it in a charity jar if one exists. I'll make the cashier dig it out for the cash register just to make my point.

[NorCoGOP]

Hey, if people are dumb enough already to pay $4 for a plain cup of coffee anyways - would they even notice the tax?

I never go to Starbucks - I can brew coffee that tastes the same at home for a MONTH as opposed to what I'd spend in ONE VISIT....

[TomGuy]

What'll they think of next?

A tax on IQ's. Most legislators know they'd be automatically exempt from that tax, too.

[tcostell]

I can see the sandalistas now:

"what do you mean Starbucks closed down? Can they do that?!

[AD from SpringBay]

When they came for the smokers I did not care, for I was not a smoker. Yukky bad smokes.

When they came for the espresso drinkers I did not care, for it is much too strong and only rich people enjoy such things.

When they came for the landowners I did not care, for I rent and am usually late as it is.

When they came for 30% FICA I did not mind, for I receive fedrul money (poetic license of course) and don't have to toil.

I guess I don't care about much of nothin', as long as I get mine.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I am incapable of responding to this without swearing or proposing an act of violence so, I'll just keep my mouth shut.

[Washington-Husky]

I don't know what they'll think of next, but I know how they think:

"American Taxpayers -- Good to the Last Drop!!"

[Pining_4_TX]

The morning chick on Fox News interviewed people on opposite sides of this the other day. She's OK, but I was screaming at her to ask the pro-tax guy some serious questions. Like - why don't you donate your own money and go out and raise contributions if this cause is so important to you? Or, she could say this, "You obviously think you know how your neighbors ought to spend their money, but you are too lazy to try to persuade them to donate it and too much of a coward to break into their homes and steal it outright. So, you and other "compassionate thieves" use the power of government to do it for you.

[PJ-Comix]

What'll they think of next?

In ancient Rome there was actually a Urine Tax. I think it was imposed by the emporer Vespasian. How it was collected, I don't know.

[BluesDuke]

Known formally as Seattle Initiative 77...

Known realistically as Clueless in Seattle.