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An '''excise''' is a [[tax]] levied exclusively on [[goods]], [[services]], or activities which are considered ''[[privelege|privileged]]'' or ''[[luxury|luxurious]]''. Excises may not encumber “essential” items, or anything directly connected with the exercise of an unalienable right, such as the right to practice one’s religion or earn a living.  [[Adam Smith]], whose work, ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'', functioned as the economic bible of America’s [[Founding Fathers]], defined “luxurious” items as those which are not necessary to sustaining life, and thus which “every man is allowed to buy or not buy as he chuses.” [Bk. V, Ch. 2, Pt. 2]  Such items are legitimate objects of excise.  On the other hand, he defined “necessary” items as those “which are indispensably necessary for the support of life,” including those which “the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people…to be without.”  In modern America, items which are “indecent” for “creditable people to be without" include food, clothing, housing, transportation, medicine, health care, arms for self-defense, phone service, sundries, education, a job in the private sector, etc.  These items and activities are not qualified to be taxed under an excise.

An '''excise''' is a [[tax]] levied exclusively on [[goods]], [[services]], or activities which are considered ''[[Privilege|privileged]]'' or ''[[Luxury good|luxurious]]''. Excises may not encumber “essential” items, or anything directly connected with the exercise of an unalienable right, such as the right to practice one’s religion or earn a living.  [[Adam Smith]], whose work, ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'', functioned as the economic bible of America’s [[Founding Fathers]], defined “luxurious” items as those which are not necessary to sustaining life, and thus which “every man is allowed to buy or not buy as he chuses.” [Bk. V, Ch. 2, Pt. 2]  Such items are legitimate objects of excise.  On the other hand, he defined “necessary” items as those “which are indispensably necessary for the support of life,” including those which “the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people…to be without.”  In modern America, items which are “indecent” for “creditable people to be without" include food, clothing, housing, transportation, medicine, health care, arms for self-defense, phone service, sundries, education, a job in the private sector, etc.  These items and activities are not qualified to be taxed under an excise.

Consequently, excises in the United States currently tax only certain luxury items and licensed activities, such as [[liquor]], [[tobacco]], luxury automobiles, aviation permits, and certain government-connected activities.

Consequently, excises in the United States currently tax only certain luxury items and licensed activities, such as [[liquor]], [[tobacco]], luxury automobiles, aviation permits, and certain government-connected activities.