The Role of Sin Taxes in the United States
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Abstract
Sin taxes are excise taxes placed by the government upon items or activities they have determined are unhealthy for society and the individual in order to discourage and/or limit the consumption of said products. This literary analysis summarizes the findings of five different peer-reviewed articles on the topic of sin taxes. These articles each offer a different perspective on the topic, whether that be scientific, legal, fiscal, or scholarly opinion. The main consensus of the articles collected is that sin taxes, or excise taxes on products deemed undesirable, are caused by a need for more government revenue and a desire to curb the use of specific products which, as it stands, functions as a regressive tax that can punish minority groups and play to the greed of government and politicians; further, little is suggested to rectify the situation barring removal of sin tax altogether, replaced by taxes that affect the majority.
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References
Carruthers, B.G. (2016). The semantics of sin tax: politics, morality, and fiscal imposition. Fordham Law Review, 84(6), 2565-2582.
Dadayan, L. (2019). States’ addiction to sins: sin tax fallacy. National Tax Journal, 72(4), 723-754. https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2019.4.04
Hoffer, A.J. et al. (2014). Sin taxes and sindustry: revenue, paternalism, and political interest. The Independent Review, 19(1), 47-64.
Kim, K. (2022). Using dynamic common correlated effects approach to analyze the role of sin taxes in short and long-term fiscal surplus across US states. Public Budgeting and Finance, 42, 255-278. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbaf.12313.
Milam, K. (2015). Syntax on sin tax: the supreme court of North Carolina invigorates the just and equitable tax clause. North Carolina Law Review, 93(3), 912-934.