What a great idea. And I know that being a fair and non-vindictive sort, West Virginia lawmaker Craig Blair will also start demanding drug testing for everyone who receives government handouts — from tax breaks to bailouts to states that take more from the federal tax system than they contribute to it.
And while we’re at it, maybe the members of the West Virginia legislature will all submit to a drug test before enacting this law. Just to show that if welfare recipients who get handouts for doing nothing must be drug-free then politicians who get handouts for doing nothing also must be drug-free.
2 replies on “Drug tests for welfare recipients”
A tax break is not a handout, it is avoidance of a loss of one’s own property to government taxation. If I stop hitting your head with a hammer, am I causing you pleasure?
In the case of a business that is getting tax breaks for moving into a community, I’m not sure it’s that simple. There often is considerable pressure put on the local infrastructure, from roads to sewers to schools, that the taxes a business pays help to offset. By giving that business a break on those taxes in the hope that it ultimately will generate more tax revenue than it consumes, government is hoping to be the winner. But it’s a gamble that the business will deliver on its end. And when I’m gambling, I want to know the CEO isn’t stuffing the tax savings he’s getting up his nose instead of building value in the community.