Sin taxes and the power to destroy

In response to Why Video Games Prove Obamacare Is a Farce:

I must admit that it’s somewhat refreshing to hear these “sin taxes” bandied about, for they constitute a vital admission by proponents that “the power to tax is the power to destroy.”  

Normally, many of the same people sell us a bill of goods that huge tax increases have no destructive effect.  Static budget analysis is entirely premised on the notion that a high level of taxation can be applied to economic activity without suppressing it.  Tax $1 billion in commerce at 10% and you get $100 million in revenue.  The people who believe this are always shocked when the promised revenue does not materialize.  Of course, they generally blame the shortfall on greedy “tax evaders.”

But here comes the sin tax, and wonder of wonders, you’ve got Nanny State busybodies openly admitting that taxation suppresses commerce.  And these taxes are often considerably smaller than those we’re supposed to absorb without a lost dollar of trade or investment.