Dear Johnny Fanboy,

In the Judge Dredd comic strip in the 16th April 2004 edition of the Metro newspaper, Dredd disapproves of the Mega-City mayor's idea of placing a community charge on fresh air. "Politicians," the Judge mutters to himself, "Sooner we pass a law against them, the better!"

Why does Dredd think a tax on clean air would be a bad idea? I'm sure the Justice Department itself once proposed such a tax in the pages of 2000AD.

Angus Metcalf

Johnny Fanboy replies:

It may not be the air tax idea that Dredd pours scorn on. The mayor follows it up with an even wackier notion: an environmental tax on babies, because they're noisy and smelly. It may be this latter proposal that the Judge takes such an exception to.

Alternatively, the cause of Dredd's lack of faith in the political system may be down to the very fact that Mega-City One already imposes a fresh air tax, and that the mayor is very dim not to have realised this.

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