Nevermind fun tax, it’s time for a social media tax

I think the idea of fun-tax is absolutely brilliant. Why not charge people extra for the more pleasurable things in life?

Eating out and going to the movies are really sometimes the most fun people have in a month. Surely they shouldn’t complain if they have to fork out, say, a 10% “fun fee”. Just consider it doubling the waiter’s tip.

And, let’s be honest, pleasure has become such a rarity in our morbid daily grind that one can actually put quite a premium on it. And think of the marketing opportunities for the presenters of amusement. They can offer funtax subsidies. Or what about two pleasures for the price of one?

Of course, I’m referring to two movie tickets, packaged as one fun event! What were you thinking?

The big question, though, is whether one would be able to claim a rebate if the movie is crappy, or if the meal is not up to one’s expectations?

This would obviously have to be strictly controlled to prevent tax fraud. Maybe movies should be rated by a panel of experts and taxed accordingly.

Meals are a beast of another nature. Maybe every restaurant should have a team of “tax tasters” – people who taste every meal before it is served, and then determine a tax rate for it.

With the number of restaurants, fast food vendors and informal food stalls, introducing tax tasters could be the biggest job creation exercise in history. Please can I NOT be a tax taster in a fish & chips shop?

But that got me thinking. I reckon the best thing the taxman can do is to introduce a social media tax. Considering the number of people who are forever on all the various platforms, the tax base in the country could shoot through the roof.

The best part is that it can be multi-layered, effectively becoming a tax that keeps rolling on, very much like e-tolls.

There can be a login-tax, followed by a posting tax. Just a few cents levy on every social media post could see the state coffers bulging within weeks.

The coup d’etat would be a tax on every spelling or grammar mistake. It can be called a syntax.

Danie Toerien

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.