It is no secret that pleasure police routinely use the tax system as a form of government coersion. Sin taxes levied against smoking, drinking, fast cars, and other luxuries are frequently used by nanny governments as a way to shift human behavior from a habit they deem as 'unfavorable' over to a 'favorable' one. But what happens after people's behavior actually starts to change? What will the government do when they actually see an impact on their sin tax revenue?

Well, in Australia, the government simply shifts the tax over to the 'favorable' habit, after enough people have adopted it. For instance, in Australia people who use environmentally friendly fuels will soon no longer enjoy those government tax breaks.From July 2008, excise will be phased in over four years for alternative fuels such as LPG and ethanol, starting at 2.5 cents per litre.

The final rate will be 12.5 per litre in 2012. [...]

"It moves to put excise on a more logical, intelligent basis but we've made it plain that the new regime is not going to apply until the middle of 2008," [Prime Minister John Howard] said.

Mr Howard says the Government is also offering $1,000 to motorists who stick with the LPG option.Well, you didn't think the government would actually do without all that tax money, now did you? That means all you folks out there that don't mind higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and SUVs because they don't apply to you, need to realize that they soon may be shifted over to your favorite vices. Today's cigarette taxes are tomorrow's fast food taxes. In the not so distant future, that SUV tax may be shifted over to the next automotive fad, like minivans or hybrids. After all, someone has to pay for the environmental clean up of the chemicals in all those clean running, "environmentally friendly" batteries.

As for Australia, for the time being Aussie taxi drivers appear to be thumbing their noses at the government and may go back to conventional gasoline.