What may come as no surprise to British Columbians who were among the first in the world to be sold on the carbon tax, U.S. researchers are proposing a tax on soda pop and pizza.

Never mind self control, sound parenting, and wise nutritional choices, all we need to make us skinny and healthy again is another tax – 18 per cent to be exact.

I'd like to know when taxation suddenly became the knee jerk reaction to societal issues.

Perhaps we should tell our neighbours to the South how effective the B.C. Liberal's Carbon Tax plan has been at eliminating global warming and our “carbon footprint." It's like the lazy approach to problem solving: just throw money at, in this case a tax, and it will hopefully go away.

Not so fast. Statistics Canada says fuel use has increased in B.C. by 4 per cent since the gas tax was introduced in 2008. That can only mean greenhouse gas emissions have increased but it may be hard to tell in the lush lower mainland which is refreshed with a gentle sea breeze each day.

How discouraging can it be for energy producers to reduce emissions when they know the Province will tax their consumers more than themselves?

I said it in a previous editorial (Climategate crashes Copenhagen) that the Carbon Tax is conveniently void of any plan to reduce toxins and instead focuses on this shadowy “carbon footprint” we are all apparently guilty of leaving behind.

Shockingly, there are those that have bought the sales pitch from government that the further taxation is exactly what we need to get out of our troubles.

Former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill once said, “we contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

Where is the Georgia Straight Tea Party when you need it? If only Congressman Ron Paul had come to Vancouver during the Olympics instead of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Perhaps he could have talked some sense into us.

I guess that's the price we pay for voting in who we do and being so passive on issues. Just pay your taxes, follow your hockey team, and vegetate in front of the 52 inch plasma TV for hours every night.

Last year's sudden removal of the Coquihalla tolls was a glaring example of how government can put money in our right pocket while simultaneously taking money from our left. While rural British Columbians received the benefit from that, our Lower Mainland neighbours got stuck with the bill, times two (Golden Ears and Port Mann bridge tolls).

On top of it all, we've got an impending sales tax proposal that some political pundits say will actually stimulate business. I, for one, welcome former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm and his campaign against the Harmonized Sales Tax.

In the words of C.S. Lewis “of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

— John O'Connor