Richard Arthur Kelo and Excise Tax

An excise tax in the United States is an indirect tax on listed items. They can be and are made by federal, state, and local governments and are not uniform throughout the United States. Tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline are targets of excise tax as well as activities like wagering and highway usage by trucks. They can be included in the price of the product and are collected by the producer or retailer and not paid directly by the consumer. Sometimes they often remain “hidden” in the price of a product or service rather than being listed separately.

However, Rick Kelo on Quora points out that the United States as a whole are paying less excise tax now than they were in the 1950s. The excise tax paid in 1952 was 13.4% versus in 2015 where the United States were paying about 3%. These percentages come from the total federal tax receipts of excise taxes and not the income going to excise taxes. Rick Kelo, an executive recruiter for Taxscout Inc. with over 10 years experience in the tax industry, further analyzes the excise charts saying that out of the $2.163T federal tax receipts collected in 2010, only $66.9B accounted for excise taxes making up only 3.1%. Compare this to 1952 where out of the

$34.9B in federal tax receipts, $7.5B were made up of excise taxes collected, accounting for 19.1%. this shows that the excise tax receipts remain unchanged over time.

But wait, was there another reason why excise taxes were implemented in the first place? Excise tax was once thought to produce some morals. The thought was, if there was a heavy tax on alcohol and cigarette products, then maybe less people would purchase them and the tax revenues on these products could be used on anti-smoking advertisements. It could also promote a sense of environmental protection or public safety and health. However, these excise taxes have reduced. Rick Kelo writes that the excise tax on gasoline in the 1960s was once 13.7%, but in 2000 it was reported to be 11%. So, has the government decided to lay off on public morals?

Rick Kelo, the outspoken blogger questioning the modern age, concludes that the federal tax collection has possibly increased dramatically in other areas. This may calm the critics of excise tax, who believe the tax to be another way the government can double tax the population and inflate prices of products.