Life’s Little Luxuries Can Be Taxing
When our office moved last year, one thing we all immediately missed was the gourmet coffee shop next door. Sure, we had a great Bunn coffee maker brewing Folgers every day, but it just didn’t compare with café mocha, chai tea, cappuccino, espresso, lattes, etc., made fresh to our specifications. And we could always count on the varied selection of baked goods, soups, and sandwiches for that afternoon pick-me-up. The $3-plus cost is considered a well-deserved, affordable luxury today for beginning the workday at 6 a.m., working through lunch, or just because we’re worth it. I remember a time not long ago, however, when I would choose to skip a $3 lunch, transferring the dollars into the grocery store budget.
Across the country—across the world, really—Starbucks and other specialty coffee shops are all the rage. Starbucks plans to open hundreds of cafes in the next couple of years. I fondly remember having my picture taken outside Starbucks Shanghai last year—and purchasing the signature coffee mug as a souvenir. Costing about 20 yuan, or about $2.65, it’s a much greater luxury to a Chinese family when the monthly disposable income of an average three-person household was about $143 in April 2003.
One explanation was that while some Chinese prefer the taste of tea, they like the image drinking that Starbucks coffee conjures up: relaxed affluence. “It’s an attitude,” said one Chinese Starbucks coffee drinker. Knowing the budget of most college students, I was also surprised to find one of the college campuses my daughter and I visited this summer boasted seven Starbucks coffee shops in various campus buildings. One swipe of the student ID, and $3 would be deducted from the dining card.
Gourmet sandwich shops are growing in popularity, as well. Thanks to all of the negative publicity of 99-cent burgers and fries at traditional “fast food” restaurants, salads, wraps, and other healthier choices are springing up. As with the upscale coffees, these seemingly healthier food choices come at a slightly higher cost, of course.
I’ve been surprised by the health conscious teenagers today who enjoy not only lattes and fruit smoothies, but fresh vegetarian sandwiches, sushi, and yogurt—and wouldn’t think of grabbing a Twinkie or fried tenderloin at the school cafeteria. Considering a bottle of water (also a must-have convenience) costs $1 at school, a teenager’s lunch bill is usually more than $3. Yes, there are still water fountains for free, but it’s not the same.
The creative folks in Seattle—the hometown of Starbucks—have come up with a way to subsidize preschool education, given the popularity of gourmet coffee. Next month, Seattle voters will decide on adding a 10-cent tax on every espresso drink sold in the city. Not ordinary coffee, however. Guess they know how to seize an opportunity.
It’s sad but true that most of us today live with a “champagne appetite on a beer budget.” The affordable luxuries are difficult to give up, and we’re more willing to adjust to slight cost increases. So, I started thinking that maybe it would be a pretty painless way to increase city coffers—maybe even solve larger government issues. Forget the $1 tax on garbage, but tack a dime onto each Krispy Kreme—to be applied for the medically uninsured; a quarter on bottled water tax for city infrastructure; 50 cents on that homegrown veggie wrap for medicare…
For those of us who have successfully bought into the “attitude” about the necessities of life, what’s another nickel and dime? TPW
Across the country—across the world, really—Starbucks and other specialty coffee shops are all the rage. Starbucks plans to open hundreds of cafes in the next couple of years. I fondly remember having my picture taken outside Starbucks Shanghai last year—and purchasing the signature coffee mug as a souvenir. Costing about 20 yuan, or about $2.65, it’s a much greater luxury to a Chinese family when the monthly disposable income of an average three-person household was about $143 in April 2003.
One explanation was that while some Chinese prefer the taste of tea, they like the image drinking that Starbucks coffee conjures up: relaxed affluence. “It’s an attitude,” said one Chinese Starbucks coffee drinker. Knowing the budget of most college students, I was also surprised to find one of the college campuses my daughter and I visited this summer boasted seven Starbucks coffee shops in various campus buildings. One swipe of the student ID, and $3 would be deducted from the dining card.
Gourmet sandwich shops are growing in popularity, as well. Thanks to all of the negative publicity of 99-cent burgers and fries at traditional “fast food” restaurants, salads, wraps, and other healthier choices are springing up. As with the upscale coffees, these seemingly healthier food choices come at a slightly higher cost, of course.
I’ve been surprised by the health conscious teenagers today who enjoy not only lattes and fruit smoothies, but fresh vegetarian sandwiches, sushi, and yogurt—and wouldn’t think of grabbing a Twinkie or fried tenderloin at the school cafeteria. Considering a bottle of water (also a must-have convenience) costs $1 at school, a teenager’s lunch bill is usually more than $3. Yes, there are still water fountains for free, but it’s not the same.
The creative folks in Seattle—the hometown of Starbucks—have come up with a way to subsidize preschool education, given the popularity of gourmet coffee. Next month, Seattle voters will decide on adding a 10-cent tax on every espresso drink sold in the city. Not ordinary coffee, however. Guess they know how to seize an opportunity.
It’s sad but true that most of us today live with a “champagne appetite on a beer budget.” The affordable luxuries are difficult to give up, and we’re more willing to adjust to slight cost increases. So, I started thinking that maybe it would be a pretty painless way to increase city coffers—maybe even solve larger government issues. Forget the $1 tax on garbage, but tack a dime onto each Krispy Kreme—to be applied for the medically uninsured; a quarter on bottled water tax for city infrastructure; 50 cents on that homegrown veggie wrap for medicare…
For those of us who have successfully bought into the “attitude” about the necessities of life, what’s another nickel and dime? TPW