Governor's Plan: Tax Soda Pop, Indian Smokes

The Governor's preparing to announce some new taxes to shorten the budget gap. and the Times notices "one element that Mr. Paterson left out of his budget was any broad-based tax increase affecting people in higher income brackets," though he is expected to dun purchasers of "furs and boats," which will certainly lead to a stern article in City Journal and a migration of rich people to Piscataway. And an anticipated move to tie the state gas tax to the fluctuating price of petrol shows imagination at least. But the big excitement comes from an expected "obesity tax" on non-diet soft drinks and a bill which will allow the state to finally collect taxes on cigarettes sold out of Indian reservations (which didn't go over so well when Pataki tried it some years back). These, if realized, will reenforce the image of nanny-statism for which New York is known on right-wing bulletin boards across the country, and keep citizens of the inland empire united in their contempt for our killjoy socialist ways. Call it our gift to the patriotic stereotypes that bind our nation together. You're welcome, America!