If The legislature Added Ten Cents To The Price Of The Concord Monitor - Would That Be A Tax? - Granite Grok

If The legislature Added Ten Cents To The Price Of The Concord Monitor – Would That Be A Tax?

paint colors - - House Paint taxPart of the dumbing down, or is it just the reprogramming of Americans, seems to be convincing them that just because your government makes you pay more for something that this is not a tax.

It is a tax.

When the state uses force (threat or risk of punishment for refusing to collect or pay some sum of money) that is a tax.  Fee, tariff, levy, even a fine–they are all taxes.

I only bring it up because the Concord Monitor, when reporting on a pending vote in the NH State Senate, over a proposed fee (also a tax) on paint purchased in the Granite State they said this…

The bill came under fire in the House from Republicans who argued the fee amounted to a tax on paint.

Under the House-approved bill, manufacturers would charge participating retailers 75 cents per gallon of paint to cover the disposal cost. The fee would be 35 cents for smaller amounts and $1.60 for cans larger than a gallon. A nonprofit organization designated by the state would run the program.

The liberals at the Concord Monitor never seem sure about what might constitute a tax so maybe this will help.  If The legislature added ten cents to the price of the Concord Monitor – would that be a tax?  (It would be used to pay for recycling, and mandatory NRA training classes for students.)

That is a tax.  It makes no difference whether the state chooses a so-called non-profit rent seeking crony to spend the money.  What used to be yours is now someone elses based entirely on the will of “experts: in government.

You can call it a lot of different things, but at the end of the day it is a tax.

The bipolar Republican state Senate votes to make paint cost more today. HB 1570 has a better than 50-50 shot of passing unless today is a lucid day.  There’s really no way to tell when those might be.

H/T Susan Olsen

Skip had some nice analysis on the bill here.

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