Home / Fat Taxes / Headlines
May 4, 2005
No People's Choice Award For Fast-Food Tax
The Detroit Free Press reported yesterday that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has charged more than $210,000 to his city-issued credit cards in less than three years -- often spending hundreds of dollars at upscale restaurants. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with fine dining. But while he uses taxpayer dollars to finance these escapades, the mayor has proposed a two-percent fast-food tax.
The Detroit Free Press reported yesterday that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has charged more than $210,000 to his city-issued credit cards in less than three years -- often spending hundreds of dollars at upscale restaurants. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with fine dining. But while he uses taxpayer dollars to finance these escapades, the mayor has proposed a two-percent fast-food tax.
Unsurprisingly, columnists and consumers have found the mayor's proposal tough to swallow. One city resident denounced Kilpatrick's plan as "ludicrous," saying: "He's the hip-hop mayor, and he wants a 2 percent tax on cheeseburgers? It's not going to happen." Another resident scoffed: "They can find other things to tax besides fast food. I mean, give me a break." And, as one letter to the editor of The Detroit News notes:
The "fast food" tax proposed by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should be cause for concern and not just because it unfairly targets low-income people ... If Detroit adopts a fast food tax, it won't be long before it would be implemented statewide and expanded to include candy, snacks, ice cream, and other foods the do-gooders don't think we should have.
Meanwhile, Detroit News columnist Laura Berman writes:
In Detroit, where fast food restaurants are among the city's more visible and viable businesses, the constituency for a sin tax on fast food is two vegans from PETA. Do you really want to tax the fast food consumers who are strapped for time and money ...
It seems the only folks who might like the mayor's tax are diet dictators, who look to tax, regulate, and litigate away our food choices.
email us comments