Of Taxes and Big Government

When I returned to Juneau this session, it was with the desire to again urge my colleagues to distance themselves from the four decade old attitude that "government knows best". With the 20th Century drawing to a close, we look back on what has been a long and bloody history lesson of what happens when government is given too much power and authority. To a less dramatic degree, the same has proven true in Alaska where the state was given substantial power and money, and thus exerted control over the private sector. Today, we see a bloated budget, a large bureaucracy, and government "do gooding" all around us. A true economy based on private, small business growth has been harnessed and restricted.

For this reason my conservative colleagues and I embarked on a 5-year plan that gradually balances the state budget, and in the process, trims much of the fat. Within this context, the Majority refused to pass new taxed the last two years. To my disappointment and dismay however, we now have two different tobacco tax proposals before us.

Accompanied with the old platitudes that the tax is to "help the children," these taxes are just that--taxes. I've been taking note lately of the many letters to the editor of newspapers around the state. "RBR" of Anchorage referred to it as "just another way to raise revenue." "LKS" of Wasilla satirized the tax, with a call for a tax also on "cheeseburgers, fries and bad drivers." "GBT" of Anchorage called the tax proponents "Lifestyle Nazis." Note that those letters in agreement with the tax blithely urge us to tax and control Alaskan's, because "it's the right thing to do." How absurd. The Anchorage Daily News, ever the bastion of conservative thinking and lusting over another good and wholesome tax, argues for it as well. Well, if the News is for something, its bound to be a position representing more growth in government.

While many of the public commentaries on the proposed tobacco tax may suggest or hint at a vague notion of political philosophy, or argue that such as tax won't accomplish what its intended to do (i.e. prevent our youth from starting smoking), none take a true look at the core of the argument. That core involves answering a key question: What role should government play in matters of taxation ? I would answer that in straight Jeffersonian terms, that is, as little as possible. The people ought to be free of the yoke of governmental control, so they can wax successful--not the other way around. When government at any level overspends (as the state does), its leaders essentially take the future from the very people they're supposed to represent. This is precisely what our state government has been doing more or less since the advent of Big Oil. I'm convinced that my constituents sent me down here to turn this process around and achieve a more conservative approach to government. Creating a new tax on tobacco products (any consumer product for that matter) will not achieve this goal.

Should this tax pass, will fewer youth start smoking as hoped ? I have serious doubts. Won't this legislation create resentment among the 95 % adults who will "foot the bill" and end up forking over literally millions of dollars to the government ? Most certainly, and I don't blame them. I see the public here as mere pawns in yet another government scheme to force them to do what the state says is best for them. Moreover, will smuggling of less expensive cigarettes occur ? Absolutely, just as it did in Canada when people drove across the border into Seattle, and brought them back by the box load to be sold in their hometowns. No different than what we see with alcohol in the so-called "dry" villages of Alaska's Bush.

I maintain that certain kinds of activities, such as where one chooses to live or work, the kinds of food they eat, or the clothes they wear, are none of the government's business. If the state argues that smokers will wind up bed ridden in hospitals at a greater rate than non-smokers and thus consume more tax dollars, then perhaps government should stop socializing medicine in the first place. People should be at liberty to pay their own way, dictated by a free market-place.

I intend to vote no on these tax proposals. Like most everyone, I don't want our youth hooked on tobacco products. But taxing is not the solution. I earnestly hope that more of my fellow lawmakers will vote no as well, on further government intervention into people's lives!

Rep. Kohring (R-Wasilla/Peters Creek) has never been a smoker.