Arizona has proposed imposing a $50 a year tax on smokers and obese childless adults because of their status as smokers or obese adults, evidently to close a budget gap. Whether $50 will close the gap or not is not clear. Nor is it clear at all, that the status tax will affect behavior. What is clear is that the New York Times interviewer, Timothy Williams, was not interested enough to ask the spokesperson for the Arizona plan, Monica Coury,  what was the basis for their belief that $50 would change behavior.  Under an Arizona Plan, Smokers and the Obese Would Pay Medicaid Fee – NYTimes.com  This is journalism? Really?