Points well taken. I agree with your view of the divide and conquer approach to crowd management. Clearly I didn't explain myself very well and likely I didn't understand your position due to lack of information.

My view of this type of tax is that it should be used to encourage healthy life choices by the population at large. So tax the shit out of tobacco - all tobacco, and tax tanning beds, soda, foods high in trans fats, etc. At the end of the day though, these kinds of taxes are the basis of social policy. And while those revenues are a part of the pie, in no way can we look to these kinds of taxes to solve our revenue generation issues. To raise real revenues we must seriously examine previous tax cuts and who is/has benefiting/ed the most from the current system. Only then can we craft tax policy that will generate the revenues we need.

I will go further to say that this is about wealth redistribution but not as seen through the Glen Beck/Sarah Palin/GOP prism. This is not socialism, give me a break. This is not about creating a flat middle class. It is about doing what is fair and just. We can craft a system that taxes wealth without making people poor. And the crap about stifling investment is pure BS spun by the ultra wealthy to justify their obscene wealth. I'm happy to go into the reasons why if any one cares.