Raising Cigarette and Liquor Taxes to pay for Teachers' Salary Increases and Mental Health Care - Your Thoughts (Raleigh: to buy, luxury)

[vindaloo]

I support any taxes levied on tobacco. However, it just isn't right to penalize those of us that enjoy drinking. I would like to see teachers and health workers make more. So here is what I am willing to do. If you see me in a bar, show me you I.D. from the Board of Education or from your prospective health care facility, and I will buy you a drink. In response to someone's previous comment, Mecklenburg County is "not" Tobacco Road. I know nobody that smokes "legal" cigarettes. How about toll booths? Not only would they bring in money for the county, but they would encourage people to want to support more public transportation and excellerate light/heavy rail. But, I suppose that is another story. Last thought, why not legalize pot? People could smoke outside of public places and willingly pay tremendous taxes for the product.

[bibit612]

My basic problem with this is that the people who smoke and drink are the lower income people who are not about to go to smoking cessation classes and buy Chantix. Taxing them all the more will just make them go find other sources to fund their habits, of which the increased cost to them, does not even go to their care and well-being. Same findings with people spending an inordinate amount of their money on lottery tickets.

Government has to find a larger tax base to tax rather than focus on the few to fund something. Em is right...if SC does not follow suit, all that revenue will leave NC and go to SC. SC will benefit (sales tax funding schools remember?) and NC will lose.

[bibit612]

Originally Posted by vindaloo

I support any taxes levied on tobacco. However, it just isn't right to penalize those of us that enjoy drinking.

And why would these two be different, as in why would one be taxed and not the other?

[Carolina_native]

I don't smoke and hardly ever drink. I am opposed to the taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. I am opposed to most all tax increases. But right now especially as people are dealing with already huge increases in food and gas prices, new taxes do not make much sense.

Of note, part of the increase will send 6 million dollars to expand the NC Zoo polar bear exhibit .

[Carolina_native]

Originally Posted by vindaloo

I support any taxes levied on tobacco. However, it just isn't right to penalize those of us that enjoy drinking. I would like to see teachers and health workers make more. So here is what I am willing to do. If you see me in a bar, show me you I.D. from the Board of Education or from your prospective health care facility, and I will buy you a drink. In response to someone's previous comment, Mecklenburg County is "not" Tobacco Road. I know nobody that smokes "legal" cigarettes. How about toll booths? Not only would they bring in money for the county, but they would encourage people to want to support more public transportation and excellerate light/heavy rail. But, I suppose that is another story. Last thought, why not legalize pot? People could smoke outside of public places and willingly pay tremendous taxes for the product.

Your argument is pretty biased.

Alcohol is just as destructive as tobacco. Both are addictive. But it is far more likely that alcoholism will destroy families and kill innocent people than a cigarette (drunk driving).

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by TheEmissary

I know I'll raise a nest of hornets over this topic. Yesterday, Governor Easley in his proposed budget, announced he wanted to raise taxes on cigarettes 20 cents a pack to give teachers a 7 percent raise. He also wants to increase the tax on beer and wine to pay for improvements to the NC mental health care system. How do you feel about this? Will it be a factor in the upcoming elections in deciding who you vote for?

My thoughts - Last week, I quit smoking after 35 years. NC is a state with very low cigarette taxes and it was a nice bonus to move here from NJ, which has the highest taxes on cigarettes in the nation. NC currently gets 35 cents a pack, while NJ charges $2.58 a pack, for cigarette taxes. For both states, it represents an almost "captive" source of income, since most smokers aren't likely to quit just because the price goes up. The same might be said for "Joe Six-Pack who will be paying higher prices for wine and beer. NC has the 4th highest tax in the nation on beer. This strikes me as "taxation without representation" even though the money raised, is for what most people would concede, a good cause. It just seems that the "sin taxes" are an easy target for tax increases. Now, I won't be contributing that much to the till, but it still rankles me that smokers and drinkers are constantly leaned on for "easy money". How about putting a $1 tax on a gallon of milk since all of those kiddies drinking it, are the ones that will be "using those underpaid teachers"? Now, do you see how I used to feel every time those "sin taxes" were raised? I'm not much of a beer drinker or wine aficionado, so the state won't be getting much there! I still feel sorry for the smokers and beer & wine drinkers! I also feel for what I see as "underpaid teachers" in this state.
The low salaries and poor benefits of NC teachers is probably what it behind the high turnover rates of new hires in NC. What is the solution to this problem?

Your thoughts on this?

I know exacty where you are coming from on this, Emissary - McGreevey's ill-conceived attempt to balance the state budget on the back of smokers. (can you say Delaware?)

Whether it's a good idea or not boils down to one thing. Will the price increase drive people to an adjacent state? if so, you can bet that they will buy other items when they are there, therefore losing sales tax that would have been collected by the state.

[flyingscotsman]

I used to smoke and I still drink, I think it should be taxed higher

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

I know exacty where you are coming from on this, Emissary - McGreevey's ill-conceived attempt to balance the state budget on the back of smokers. (can you say Delaware?)

Whether it's a good idea or not boils down to one thing. Will the price increase drive people to an adjacent state? if so, you can bet that they will buy other items when they are there, therefore losing sales tax that would have been collected by the state.

southbound_295 When NJ started raising the price of cigarettes so high, I started buying cigarettes on the internet for as little as $7.00 a carton for South American-made cigarettes from a place in Kentucky. Internet sales of cigs were stopped by federal government mandate just about the time I moved here. I remember the episode of The Sopranos, where Chris drove to NC to buy a trailer-load of "cheap cigarettes". Anytime a big differential in price exists on an item between two states will lead to purchases in the cheaper one or "smuggling" the item across state lines! Not much of a help to NC teachers or NC's mental health system!

[bibit612]

Originally Posted by TheEmissary

southbound_295 When NJ started raising the price of cigarettes so high, I started buying cigarettes on the internet for as little as $7.00 a carton for South American-made cigarettes from a place in Kentucky. Internet sales of cigs were stopped by federal government mandate just about the time I moved here. I remember the episode of The Sopranos, where Chris drove to NC to buy a trailer-load of "cheap cigarettes". Anytime a big differential in price exists on an item between two states will lead to purchases in the cheaper one or "smuggling" the item across state lines! Not much of a help to NC teachers or NC's mental health system!

It will only enrich the Native American reservations in whatever states you can get them from as well.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by flyingscotsman

I used to smoke and I still drink, I think it should be taxed higher

flyingscotsman - While I realize your remark is somewhat "tongue in cheek", can I recommend moving to NJ or NYC to fulfill those fantasies?

southbound_295 - Hey, now I'm wondering if the CVS nicotine gum I'm chewing is cheaper in SC? I remember when I tried to quit about 5 years ago and the Nicotine patches I tried, (nearly itched to death! ) were priced in a proportional way to the cigarettes. Back then, a box of those patches were over $50 in NJ!

Sunny & bibit - Remember how the "NC Education Lottery" was supposed to be a panacea for NC's education system? Nothing ever works out quite the way the politicians hope they will, and everyone gets poorer as a result!