All those free perks, ranging from free food in company cafeterias, laundry services, and so on: Uncle Sugar now is looking to tax those things.  They’re in the stage currently of trying to discern who benefits—the company, which gets better productivity, or the employee who gets the goody—so the IRS can levy the tax against the “proper” target.

To what extent is this intended as a perk, a form of compensation, for the benefit of the employee, or to what extent is this just another way the employer gets the employee to work harder and longer and do things for the benefit of the employer? [David Gamage, Assistant Professor of Law at UC, Berkeley] said.

Will they come next after our coffee slush funds, the snack machines provided for free (even if we must pay for the actual snack—and which choices Momma Obama already is trying to regulate), the popcorn machines, the…?

But who benefits isn’t relevant.  The government is scratching for pennies here, and that’s a sign of desperation for money.  If the government is that needy—or even if it isn’t—it must cut spending, so its need for money is lessened.  The Feds have plenty of our money already; it needs no more of it.