Cable Forum - View Single Post - report calls for an experimental 20% tax on all sugary soft drinks

**Chris** · 20-02-2013, 16:04

You know if you were a hack phoning the DWP and you asked about 'bedroom tax' they wouldn't even discuss the housing benefit rule change with you? The point being, there is no tax; what there is, is a campaign to try to link the rule change with the poll tax in the popular consciousness. That's a flawed notion for any number of reasons, but I'll not go into them here as it has its own thread already.

The housing benefit rule change is a partial withdrawl of a benefit which the government believes has, by its existence, resulted in unwanted behaviour. Removing it, in the government's view, redresses an artificial imbalance. I'm not saying that tax is left wing. I'm saying that applying tax in order to change behaviour, as opposed to applying tax in order to pay for the State to operate effectively, is left wing.

20-02-2013, 16:04	#42
Chris Trollsplatter Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 38,300	Re: report calls for an experimental 20% tax on all sugary soft drinks You know if you were a hack phoning the DWP and you asked about 'bedroom tax' they wouldn't even discuss the housing benefit rule change with you? The point being, there is no tax; what there is, is a campaign to try to link the rule change with the poll tax in the popular consciousness. That's a flawed notion for any number of reasons, but I'll not go into them here as it has its own thread already. The housing benefit rule change is a partial withdrawl of a benefit which the government believes has, by its existence, resulted in unwanted behaviour. Removing it, in the government's view, redresses an artificial imbalance. I'm not saying that tax is left wing. I'm saying that applying tax in order to change behaviour, as opposed to applying tax in order to pay for the State to operate effectively, is left wing.