hgc
8th September 2003, 11:10 AM
Article on cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/09/08/espresso.tax.ap/index.html)
There is a ballot initive in Seattle to put a dime tax on espresso to fund pre-schools.The tax would not affect plain old diner coffee -- just "any beverage prepared for immediate consumption containing half an ounce or more of espresso regardless of caffeine content, whether served hot or cold." Such drinks are luxury items, initiative backers say. Espresso may be overpriced, but that seems like a pretty arbitrary way to define taxable luxuries. How appropriate though that Seattle, birthplace to America's fancy-coffee love affair, should also be birthplace to oppressive taxation of such love.
There is a ballot initive in Seattle to put a dime tax on espresso to fund pre-schools.The tax would not affect plain old diner coffee -- just "any beverage prepared for immediate consumption containing half an ounce or more of espresso regardless of caffeine content, whether served hot or cold." Such drinks are luxury items, initiative backers say. Espresso may be overpriced, but that seems like a pretty arbitrary way to define taxable luxuries. How appropriate though that Seattle, birthplace to America's fancy-coffee love affair, should also be birthplace to oppressive taxation of such love.