Student Essay Winner

This article was judged the winner of the GVLA student essay contest.

Canadians who choose to drink or smoke are acutely aware of the excessive taxes imposed on alcohol and tobacco by our government. Health advocacy groups, brandishing an endless arsenal of statistics, condemn drinking and smoking as perilous to the individual and society and demand that the government use the 'sin tax' to guide wayward citizens down the righteous path.

A human is a complex web of competing beliefs, desires and needs. Often the only person who knows what is best for a given person is that person himself. Few would deny that alcohol and tobacco are injurious to one's health, but who would condemn a recovering crack addict who smokes and drinks to avoid relapse? In pronouncing that the use of alcohol or tobacco is an ill and should be remedied, the government ignores diversity and authoritatively imposes its view of the 'ideal' citizen.

Society is doomed in trying to determine what lifestyle is best for all its members. However, even if drinking and smoking are harmful in all possible scenarios, the state still acts wrongly in taxing those who use these products. In a liberal society, the individual must be free to do anything that does not injure others. An individual who makes poor choices inflicts harm on himself in doing so, and does not need society compounding his quandaries. One who wishes to smoke cigarettes or drink scotch should be left alone even if he charts a course towards personal disaster.

In reality, no smoker or drinker is an island and society is always justified in penalizing those whose habit detrimentally affects others. Thus, the drunkard who refuses to pay his alimony must be punished and the chain-smoker who is repeatedly hospitalized for respiratory problems should be required to pay higher health care costs. To these ends, society is equipped with police, courts, prisons and an extensive health care bureaucracy.

Although smoking and drinking bring undesirable social effects, the state's authority should not extend beyond its right to punish offending individuals. Through sin taxes, however, citizens who use alcohol and tobacco in moderation bear the brunt of measures which should be aimed at those who smoke and drink irresponsibly. The sin tax not only chides innocent persons, but absolves guilty citizens of blame.

In all likelihood, sin taxes are suspicious mostly because they stand strictly as a convenient source of government revenue. However, these taxes are still unjust, even if levied on moral grounds. Education and advertising budgets provide the government with ample means to dissuade alcohol and tobacco use; moreover, the state may rightfully punish those who harm their fellow-citizens by using these products. Those who pursue simple pleasure in smoking or drinking with restraint, however, should not be punished by a sinful sin tax.

Tim Theroux is fourth year undergraduate majoring in political science at the University of Victoria.

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