A HISTORY OF THE SIN TAXES
Md Anisur Rahman
Taxes and Management Decisions (ACCT 628)
Spring 2014
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, LA 70609
Email: anis25may@yahoo.com
Abstract:
The present economic crisis throughout the world is the driving force for governments to take into consideration of different methods of collecting taxes to develop infrastructure of a country. One of the popular sources of revenue is sin tax which is imposed to inelastic and antisocial consumption. This research paper presents a history of sin taxes and evaluates extreme antisocial consumption.
What is Sin Tax?
"Sin tax" is basically a form of "excise tax". Excise tax is included in the price of specific product such as gasoline. There is another excise tax on highway use by trucks. Motor fuel is one of the remarkable components of excise tax (www.irs.gov). A tax on substances or activities considered sinful or harmful as tobacco, alcohol, or gambling (www.merriam-webster.com). Sin tax is the tax which is levied on some specific undesirable and harmful products and services such as cigarette, alcohol, and gambling (www.wikipedia.org). Many critics say that "sin tax" and "excise tax" are the same things which is useful for a government to fulfill its budget gap. This tax provides added source of revenue of the government. Almost all state governments are interested to collect sin taxes because they can produce huge revenue from it. General public are willing to pay sin taxes since only some individuals are affected to pay the tax. Lawmakers fist recommend using sin tax when state government has deficit. This kind of tax is basically imposed to discourage people from buying those undesirable products and services.
The Ethical Attack of Sin Taxes:
It has been noticed by the opponents and media that sin tax is an...