Tax Update Blog: Permalink

« Previous · Tax Update Blog Home · Next »

Prove what that kid weighed two years ago!

May 17, 2011

Some of the same legislators who have made Illinois a model of fiscal flabbiness now propose to do their magic on Illinois' physical fitness. David Brunori reports:

llinois Rep. Shane Cultra (R) has said publicly that parents of obese children should lose their income tax deductions. He thinks that will spur parents to get their kids to go on diets.

As diet remedies go, this is somewhere between the Twinkie Diet and the State Fair Diet. Aside from the obnoxious intrusiveness of having such proven idiots tell you what to feed your kids, the practicalities are daunting. How do they plan to prove what your kid weighed during the tax year when audit time comes around? Do they really plan to weigh kids? Would they actually try to enforce this?

On the positive side, the resulting backlash would likely get rid of the existing legislators a lot faster than Illinois' traditional turnover technique of Federal indictments.

Tags: David Brunori.fat taxes.Illinois.state tax policy.