Looking at new tax schemes being proposed and perpetrated in different states and countries can give us a preview of what we may be seeing in our own jurisdictions.  Here are some new ones that recently hit the news in two of the main categories of taxation (punishment).

Sin Taxes – These obviously depend on the need to allow our imperial rulers to decide what things are bad for us, which is unfortunately a growing trend as more people accept government as our nanny.

Higher state tax on beer?

Professor calls for tax on ‘poison’ butter

Soak the evil rich – this kind of punishment on success never goes out of style. Some reminders are in order for those who have no sympathies for new taxes on millionaires. Once you accept the premise of extra taxes on certain income levels, it is a very simple task for our rulers to reduce that level to capture more money from more people.  It happens all of the time, the classic camel’s nose under the tent.. 

The other is the fact that in 1993, one of the first accomplishments of the Billary Clinton presidency was a huge retroactive tax increase that included a “Millionaire Surtax” that actually kicked in at taxable income levels of $250,000.

The cost of being rich. New tax bracket for Md. millionaires becomes law