Quote:
Originally Posted by Steedeel
What is paranoid about it?
Some chef says we should cut sugar out of our diet. A while later, there is a sugar tax.
Plastic bag tax. They charge 5p for bags at supermarkets and virtually everyone no longer pays for them.
Tobacco tax is so high, it has reduced smoking numbers to 6 million in U.K.
Next up is screen tax, preventing people from sitting down too much and encouraging people to exercise. This will be global. Why WOULDN'T it happen.
Anyone give me two good reasons and I will concede.
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We could give you a million good reasons and you would deny them all because they don't fit the narrative that you've built up in your head.
I really don't see how a tax
specific to discouraging people sitting down and watching television would be implemented.
Most of the things that you are comparing this to are consumable products.... food, cigarettes, beverages, etc. You use them up and they require frequent repeat purchases for you to get more. They are also items that individually tend to be relatively low cost to begin with, but still have a price range within which the average general public finds acceptable. So the idea behind the tax is to add enough to that cost so that it no longer fits within that range, and people consider making healthier decisions. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with those taxes, but I understand the logic behind them.
You mentioned adding a carbon tax to something like people's electrical service. That won't specifically target people sitting down and watching TV. That will effect anyone and everyone's electric bill regardless of what sorts of devices they mainly use it on. In general, TVs don't use up that much electricity compared to other appliances and items. Someone wanting to save money on their electric bill and still watch TV could just choose to turn the lights off.
The only way that I could see specifically targeting TV watchers would be to put a higher tax on the purchase of a television, itself.
But a TV is something that the average person buys/replaces once in a blue moon. Some people can easily go a decade or more without replacing/upgrading their TV so long as their existing one continues to work. Some won't replace it until it stops working. So taxing the purchase of a TV set isn't going to have much of an immediate impact on those who likely won't replace their current sets for years to come.
And even for those who would be in the market buy a TV shortly after this sort of tax hypothetically were to go into effect, putting a higher tax on TVs, themselves, won't do much since it's already a relatively big purchase when people do decide to buy one. Those on a budget who aren't trying to buy the fanciest thing will likely just go for something a little cheaper than they would otherwise plan on in order to keep the total once tax is factored in within that budget. Someone who cares about quality and is trying to get the best thing that they can buy may just wait a little longer and save up the difference that the tax adds on so they can still get what they want.
And even if the goal was to stop people from sitting down too much, why would they only target televisions specifically? People watching videos on their phones isn't necessarily any healthier. Sure, they can watch them while walking around, but they are generally only going to do that when they have to be walking somewhere and want to watch something while doing so. Otherwise they'll likely be sitting down at home, sitting on a bus or train, etc. Then there is the problem of strain and issues with people's necks from looking down at a phone or tablet way too much. That is a real issue, and effects people even when they are texting or looking at the internet. So why wouldn't they go after that at least as hard as TVs, if not more so?
You always try to make these paranoid conspiracy theories about how everyone and their brother is trying to target television sets specifically and kill them off... as if there is this league of evil villains specifically plotting against you by trying to ruin your ability to easily and comfortably watch TV ever again.
Any taxes of the sort that you are describing would have far wider reaching ramifications than just people's television sets. If it means people adjust their priorities on how they use electricity, or their internet service (for streaming and the like), their phone data (for watching on their phone), or cable service if those are taxed similarly, then they will make those adjustments as best they can within their circumstances and move on with life. In some cases it may mean watching less TV for some people. But in other cases it may mean using a phone less, shutting off the lights more frequently when they aren't needed, etc. It's not going to be this end all, be all specific attack on TVs like you think it will be.
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