Governments Increasingly Dependent on "Sin" Taxes

It's hard for them to break the habit

MADISON – Sin is in, and fat is where it's at — when it comes to taxes.

Aiming to make American consumers break bad habits, governments across the land of the free are levying a wider array of "sin taxes."

From cigarettes to sex to soft drinks to bacon, specialty taxes are generating tens of billions of dollars, much of it used to plug budget holes and a host of general purpose items.

"It's kind of the same story we've seen with other taxes over time: When they are implemented they can appear somewhat harmless," said Adam Hoffer, assistant economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and co-author of "Sin Taxes: Size, Growth, and Creation of the Sindustry," a new study by the Mercatus Center, a free-market research organization at George Mason University.