Tag Archives: crack cocaine

If you thought ObamaCare’s new tax on tanning salons was racist, the Washington Post wants to set you straight: it ain’t! The reason according to a piece published at the Post’s website Thursday evening: the government didn’t INTEND to disadvantage white people with this law. It’s just an unfortunate consequence. I kid you not.  But this gets better, because the Post quoted a Harvard professor that said this is similar to crack cocaine laws that clearly disadvantage black people more than white people (h/t Jillian Bandes ): The case can seem deceptively simple: Since patrons of tanning salons are almost exclusively white, the tax will be almost entirely paid by white people and, therefore, violates their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. But does the argument have any merit? Not remotely said Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in racial conflict and law. “There is no constitutional problem at all, because a plaintiff would have to show that the government intended to disadvantage a particular group, not simply that the group is disadvantaged in effect,” he said. Kennedy said that this is why courts have upheld a raft of other laws that also happen to have a disproportionate impact on particular groups. For example, laws that impose higher penalties for possession or trafficking of crack cocaine as opposed to powder cocaine resulted in far harsher sentences for African Americans compared to whites. And laws that offer preferential treatment for veterans are much more likely to benefit men than women. But in both cases judges ruled that, because lawmakers did not intend to disadvantage black people or women when drafting those laws, they are legal. You got that? So quit you’re whining about this new tan tax, Snooki!

See more here:
Washington Post Hysterically Explains Why Tan Tax Isn’t Racist