▶ Your Answer :
According to the reading, there is ample support for the author’s claim that the policy of imposing high taxes on cigarettes and other unhealthy products has a number of social benefits.
However, the professor in the lecture gives several reasons as a rebuttal to the author’s point.
First, the professor contends that imposing taxes cannot affect to the happier behavior on the public. For instance, when people buy a cheaper cigarettes because of the high taxes, it’s own quality can be lower than before and it is likely to contain greater risks, influencing those who pay for cigarettes and unhealthy food. As a result, buying less expensive cigarettes are not beneficial. Furthermore, if there are more taxes on unhealthy food, people are likely to buy continuously as well. This casts doubt on the reading passage’s claim that the taxes discourage people from indulging in unhealthy behaviors. 시간부족 뒷부분 정리못함.
Next, the professor insists that taxes of this kind seem so fair superficially however some people think it is totally unfair to this problem because of individual’s income. people who earn more income are tend to smoke more such as one pack a day but people who have relatively less income are likely to have more burden compared to the lucrative people. As a case with cigarettes, the case of food is same as well since it is greater burden for those who have less annual income. This counters the reading passage’s assertion that taxes of cigarettes and unhealthy food are financially fair. Since non-smokers have to pay more compared to the smokers in order to covering smoker’s cure, which means that burden can be shifted from smokers to non-smokers.
Finally, the professor argues that there is a downside in terms of taxation on cigarettes for increasing governments’ revenue. This is because government does not want to decrease their taxation on this matter and to lose it. Consequently, they implement sort of policies radically such as exhibiting smoking in the park because they do not want to lose their income. This refutes the reading passage’s suggestion that the high rate of taxation on cigarettes significantly increases annual revenue for the government. They can spend this money on other areas such as social welfare, park, education and so on, which means that this will affect to everyone positively and beneficially. |