Sin taxes a good idea

Postbag

Published: 23 Aug 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Re: ''Govt raises taxes on alcohol, cigarettes'' (BP, Aug 22).

I welcome this new taxation by the government and hope authorities extend this policy against tobacco products and alcohol.

Nobody can prove that smoking tobacco brings any benefit to human lives and society. A target year for a complete ban on smoking should be set. Until then, prohibitively higher tax hikes should be implemented year by year. Such a measure would gradually destroy business and employment related to tobacco products until a complete ban is in place.

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tomb
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Discussion 2 : 23 Aug 2012 at 07.492
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If the government reall wanted to help poor farmers, it should only allow the small farmers to enter the rice pledging scheme. Big and rich farms or corporations should be banned from entering it.

Also, there should be limits as to how much rice can be pledged at high prices. If say one rai of land yields one tonne of rice, then maybe there should be a 10 tonne cap per farmer.

Letting everyone enter the scheme just breeds corruption, as many will actually import cheap foreign rice and enter it into the fatally flawed scheme.
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Renaissance
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Discussion 1 : 23 Aug 2012 at 06.561
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I feel sure that the government's voter base will turn against the government and their hero one day. The government is spending and borrowing so much money while reducing the tax of the rich corporate world, that it will have to find more ways to raise tax. Generally, the government's voters are too poor to pay income tax, but for sure the government has planned many ways to tax them. Alcohol and cigarettes are two ways. Fertilizer prices have already risen. Are other taxes coming? We already hear about the rising debts of the rural people. The new farmer's credit card will increase them. Perhaps they have noticed that their leaders are getting richer and richer. I wonder for how much longer they will adore and obey their hero without thinking.
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Sin taxes a good idea | Bangkok Post: opinion