Debate Coffee tax

In Seattle, Washington, the mayor has imposed a 10 cent tax on coffee that is over half an ounce in measure. He says it will help raise money for schools and education. The citizens do not agree with the mayor and have actually made a reenactment of the "Boston Tea Party" by throwing sacks of coffee into the bay.


What are your views on this?

 

If you can afford coffee you can afford paying for schools and such. This is not like the Boston Tea Party because what they were protesting was differant. The taxes they protested were bad because the money went to the wrong place (rich people's pockets) whereas they certainly wouldn't have had a problem otherwise.
But then we get into a boring history debate. The point is that those who protest this tax are missing the point of the tax, which is to get money from those who don't need it and give it to those who do. If you can not afford 10 cents(or so)for your coffee, then maybe you shouldn't be buying coffee with what little money you have.
Coffee is not a necessity. The only people who lose from the tax is coffee companies, and I bet that they sponsored that re-enactment of the Tea Party.

-Sarah of Borg (who likes tea just as much as cofffee!)

 

Coffee is just as much a necessity coffee drinkers as cigarettes are to smokers. Coffee is actually quite addictive, try drinking a cup of good smooth espresso twice a day for 2 years and then say other wise. Where as the tax imposed on tobacco is to pay for the cost to the health system that the drug causes.
I would support this tax if was paying for research into caffeine’s effect on the body, but not for going into schools, cut some of your multi-trillion dollar military budget and pay for schools, not with my coffee money

Sorry if any of that doesn’t make sense, I haven’t slept in 24 hours and I haven’t had my fix (yea i'm a caffeine addict)

 

Hey, the economy is REALLY hurting right now (Not just nationally, but in almost every city, county and state as well), and if million of dollars can be made by making coffee drinkers pay an extra ten cents, I'm all for it.

 

This is the supidest thing I have ever heard and seems like quite a desperate thing for a mayor to do.

I really believe it is unfair for those who enjoy coffee and dont see why they limited it to coffee. They shouldve spread the tax across all drinks to make it less.

For people who hate coffee they dont have to pay anything which is why its wrong.

Next they will add a 10% tax on red cars or something stupid like that.

 

Were the sacks of coffee stolen? (Just wondering) And how much of it was tossed away?

It sounds interesting, but I don't see why they picked coffee. They should've put the tax on alcohol instead, since I think alcohol is much worse than caffeine/coffee. That way, drunk people end up supporting the schools!

 

Seraphinx, there are already tons of taxes on alcohol, and the city probably doesn't want to piss off the breweries even more.

Plus, Seattle is the de facto coffee capitol of America, thanks to that ever-present chain called Starbucks.