I’m more of an abolitionist when it comes to eating meat, but the more moderate PETA and ethicist Peter Singer, among others, have proposed a meat tax similar to the taxes levied on cigarettes and booze. And it makes sense, because meat production is highly destructive to the environment (which costs bllions every year), unhealthy for humans (which raises insurance premiums), and, above all, is unspeakably cruel to animals, even in the face of federal and state animal cruelty laws.

OK, so it's an admittedly mid-size welfarist idea because it still enables those who are willing to pay the tax to continue eating meat (and that would be most people, I'm thinking). But it’s a sensible start, folks.

Peter Singer writes about his rather modest proposal in the NY Daily News.