What do lemonade stands, pumpkin stands, and cotton candy booths have in common?
Overbearing bureaucrats shut them down as though they’re a danger to the public.
In all three cases, little kids were busy trying to raise money for various things, and local officials decided to crack down.
These two scofflaws will think twice about breaking the law in future
In Idaho, a 4- and 6-year-olds pumpkin stand was also shut down by the Idaho Tax Commission for want of the proper papers and permits.
In New Hampshire, police shut down a cotton candy booth run by Cub Scouts also for lack of a permit.
Breaking the law for profit. And smiling about it! Luckily, local bureaucrats soon turned that smile upside-down
Finally, in Oregon, a 7-year-old’s lemonade stand was shut down by health inspectors. These bozos demanded to see her license (which costs $120), and then threatened her with a $500 fine when she failed to provide it. She left the fair in tears.
Regulations that keep kids from opening lemonade stands, pumpkin stands, and cotton candy booths need revisiting. At least the officials involved are getting a richly deserved and very public shellacking in the court of public opinion.
P.S. I’m interested in these sorts of local-officials-acting-like-they’re-running-a-fiefdom cases because my mom and dad were recently charged for letting me use their property to run the tenth annual Liberty Summer Seminar. It made front-page news. Also second-page news. And news elsewhere in newspapers. And the response from the public was similar to the above cases.
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No. This is not a bad thing. If I wanted to open up a booth and sell things I’d get the same treatment. You can’t tell the unemployed they can’t start up vender booths but give a blank check of approval to a kid. What constitutes a kid? at what age should we not allow someone to sell something without permits?
Why wouldn’t we treat lemonade stands like we treat yard sales?
No one asks for any permits or licenses, and we’re all better off for it.
We should bust yard sales too. Goddamn neighbors bypassing sale tax laws should be getting stiffer penalities than drug dealers.
The items sold at a yard sale have already been taxed when they were purchased from the retail store.
Well John, perhaps unemployed people setting up a small business to make a livelihood shouldn’t be subject to regulatory approval?
I know, it’s a radical idea; people being allowed to do business without the permission of our government overlords.
Sure Mike, lets get rid of all regulatory oversight and just trust people to run their businesses responsibly. What could possibly go wrong?
Is there no wiggle room in your mind? When someone says lemonade stall, do you immediately think of large amounts of industrial pollutants being dumped into your drinking water?
Mike wasn’t referring to lemonade stands.
But nonetheless, that IS what you imagine in your free-market fantasy nightmares.
Good for them, imagine the chaos that would ensue from the deregulation of lemonade and cotton candy stands!
yes, Deregulation is only for the filthy rich and large corporations. Only the poor and middle-class need to be regulated and taxed. (this is sarcastic, for the dull and slow)
Actually, I understand them closing down the lemonade and cotton candy stands. Food standards do need to be met. However, the pumpkin stand? Sheesh…
But nonetheless, that IS what you imagine in your free-market fantasy nightmares.
Were you addressing me or the caricature of me that only exists in your head.
The increasing burden of regulation will only push business into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporations resulting in higher profits and prices. Good for shareholders, bad for everyone else.
There are much better ways to resolve the issue of externalities than the heavy hand of the state.
If the government thinks that everyone is going to die due to the proliferation of free markets, such as lemonade stands, pumpkin stands, produce stands, open markets, then they should take a look at ALL of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and pull their heads out of their backsides.
Obviously, it is ONLY a control thing.
Back off, big government!!!!