The Corner

Politics & Policy

Get Ready for a Meat Tax Push

Remember the old saw, “If it moves, tax it?” Well now, there’s a corollary, “If it once mooed, baaed, clucked, quacked, or gobbled, tax it.”

Yes, here comes the meat tax push–because you know, eating meat to environmentalists and animal rights activists is a terrible sin. From the Americans for Tax Reform warning (quoting Bloomberg Law):

Excise taxes on beef, pork, and chicken could be the next big thing in a state and local tax environment that’s already comfortable with “sin tax” regimes aimed at cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and gambling and is adapting quickly to special levies on sugar-sweetened beverages, greenhouse gases, and marijuana.

While there are no current legislative proposals imposing state or local surcharges on meat, a growing number of public health, environmental, and animal rights advocates are bullish on tax schemes addressing the mounting social costs of meat production and consumption.

“We have never been closer to a meat tax,” said Ashley Byrne, associate director of campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “We have seen people—including meat eaters—realizing that meat is bad for their health and meat is taking this incredible toll on the environment. People seem more open than ever to an excise tax on meat. If we are going to tax tobacco, if we are going to tax soda, it absolutely makes sense to have a similar tax on meat.

Don’t chortle. A story in The Atlantic suggests that meat taxes are “inevitable.” So does The Independent and The Guardian.

These folk are serious. PETA wants to tax meat toward the end of outlawing all eating meat–and eventually all animal husbandry–because, you know, “a rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy.” 

Global warming hysterics want to end meat because of animal flatulence. An industry investment research group report warns that a meat tax is likely due to the Paris Accords. (Another reason to be glad Trump pulled us out.)

Would-be health czars want to force us to eat less meat to keep us from getting sick–dubious–and thereby reduce healthcare costs.

The left generally wants to tax everything so they can create dependencies and engineer society into their image. 

As Rosanne Roseannadanna used to say, “It’s always somethin’. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.”




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