Clearing The Air

George Will on Prohibition: "In the fight between law and appetite, bet on appetite"

Now that ambitious government is again hell-bent on improving Americans -- from how they use salt to what light bulbs they use -- Okrent's book is a timely tutorial on the law of unintended consequences.....Before the 18th Amendment could make drink illegal, the 16th Amendment had to make the income tax legal. It was needed because by 1910 alcohol taxes were 30 percent of federal revenue.

Similarly, as tax revenue from tobacco sales decrease (if the smoking ban activists claims come to fruition) look for liberal lawmakers to impose new taxes to make up for tobacco tax losses. The other true constant is that smoking bans cause business closures and massive job losses.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html

The rest of George Will's article on Prohibition can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070703558.html

Follow-up: Wisconsin candidate for Governor Neumann would repeal smoking ban in favor of economic freedom:

http://www.wrn.com/2010/07/neumann-wants-to-undo-smoking-ban/

posted by marcus aurelius @ 3:14 PM