Since reading about the Washington state senator who proposed a tax on bicyclists for polluting, i.e. using more oxygen and therefore generating more carbon dioxide than, say, motorists, I figured that could be easily found unconstitutional. Right? I mean, we have a right to breathe, don't we?
Perhaps our founding fathers weren't cynical enough about how far tyrants could go. Nowhere is such a right spelled out in the constitution, as far as I can see. The closest thing would probably be the phrase in the 5th amendment "nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". And that may not be close enough. A tax on breathing is infuriatingly possible.
last updated 2013-03-06 14:10:37. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com