In the wake of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s thundrous electoral victory on Sunday, he’s back in action, legislating new taxes on Venezuela’s battered middle class. For his first move, he’s decided to tax toilet seats as an “inessential item.” I guess the Venezuelans, some of whom elected him, are now supposed to just go without.

Bloomberg reports:

The announcement by the government follows the Dec. 3 re- election of Chavez, who had said in September that a tax on whisky mimics a tax on ééoligarchs.” The top surcharge of 35 percent will apply to whiskey, vodka, cigars, candles and toilet seats.

Update: BBO Investment Bank, a very reliable source, reports that it’s not toilet seats but toilet paper that’s being taxed as a luxury item! Must be read to be believed, soon as the Dec. 8 report is up, at this site here. Or, check out Miguel’s site for confirmation of the same in this post here.

But going on the Bloomberg report, it’s toilet seats! I guess we’ve just learned more than we need to know about Hugo Chavez’s personal hygenic practices. Maybe he uses a coffee can. But it can’t be that, Venezuela’s got coffee shortages.

What we do know is that Chavez considers toilet seats a useless luxury, same as imported whiskey. It’s just one of those escualido baubles he seeks to do away with in the name of collectivism, if not just another yanqui scheme to achieve hegemony and dependence.

So, Hugo’s declared war on imported toilet seats and today slapped a 35% tax on them.

I guess he wanted to keep ahead of the other tax he’s putting on the very poor, the ongoing ‘tax’ that is the roaring inflation on food. Miguel has a chart that shows Venezuela’s soaring 25% food inflation these days, something which hurts people across the board, and particularly the very poor. Less food means less need for toilet seats, a rather ominous message when you think about it.

Given that Chavez considers toilet seats inessential, I guess we now know why he’s continously smelling sulphur.

Eeeeeuw!