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Originally Posted by aceventura3
Yes, I know. It is unfair. Our government should not have a segregated group of citizens based on where they live denied full participation in our representative democracy. The majority in the rest of the country has no incentive to act to correct the situation. Our apathy says it is your problem, just move.
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I agree as well. I've tossed about a number of solutions to this, but I'm not sure how best to handle it. Statehood for DC is a simple approach but probably not best. Remember there are also Puerto Rico and the other territories, as well as perhaps certain military or government employees who really don't have proper representation in the legislature. Perhaps an umbrella "state" that covers all these groups by giving them all the apparatus of the states that the rest of us have as an integral part of our federal-state system? In the end I believe all citizens ought to be treated the same by the federal government, whether you are speaking laws, taxation, benefits, or representation.
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Originally Posted by aceventura3
I also think it is unfair to excessively tax smokers. Our government should not have a segregated group of citizens based on a habit or behavior arbitrarily paying for services to others. I accept taxation based on increased government/society costs due to a habit or behavior. Taxes for special services should be based on general taxation policies using a common objective standard of taxation equally applied to all. Otherwise the majority not affected by the tax has no incentive for fairness. Our apathy says it is the smokers' problem, just quit.
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I do agree that taxation ought not to target specific groups, especially just because they are politically expedient to target. On the matter of 'special services' though, I don't know that I agree. The nature of 'special' services seems to indicate services which only benefit a select group of citizens, but I really don't believe that those kind of things are what the government should be involved in, and thus they shouldn't be taxing for them either. Services that the government does provide where the benefit is to us all, but for some the benefits are direct and others indirect, shouldn't be taxed off of the direct beneficiaries alone.
In short: If a program's benefits are to the society at large than the society at large should bear the cost of that program. If a program only benefits a select group of citizens, it probably is not something that the government should be providing.