The below petition is now online at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/TALS/petition.html
To: Scottish Executive
We the undersigned believe that any action taken by the Scottish government to increase the price of alcohol is illiberal and patronising and should be opposed. Using extreme examples of violence or alcoholism to justify increasing the price of alcohol for everyone is irrational and ends up treating all adults, and especially poorer people whose drinks are generally targeted, as children.
Although I do not feel strongly about minimum pricing, I find it hard to see the logic in the arguments against it. The smoking ban should not be compared to minimum pricing. The debate concerning the smoking ban is whether passive smoking constitutes a workplace hazard. Alcohol minimum duty is a tax on particular types of alcohol that can be seen, rightly or wrongly, to cause costs (both tangible and intangible) to society.
ReplyDeleteIs Take Liberty proposing as a matter of principle that we should not regulate private consumption at all?