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Old 10-02-2009, 06:10 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,764,882 times
Reputation: 30711
I'm shocked. The Republicans have the floor right now. I can't believe what the Democrats want to do!

They want to raise tobacco taxes 30% and tax all nicotine products including quit smoking aids like gum, patches and prescription medication.

AND

They want to put gaming tax into a general fund which will raise property taxes since the gaming tax was supposed to go towards education.

There's something about state contracts becoming void if they can't pass a bill in 60 days, but I didn't get any details on that whatsoever so I'm clueless what that's about.

I think our state goverment has gone mad!
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Old 10-02-2009, 09:08 PM
 
Location: Macao
16,265 posts, read 43,039,772 times
Reputation: 10231
I wouldn't trust Republicans 100%...their 'story time' is often a much more fabricated 'story time' than Democrats.

The best approach is to hear what they both say...and then try to research the individual issues...and try to find the truth in there somewhere in the middle.
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Old 10-02-2009, 09:20 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,576,677 times
Reputation: 5162
Did you know that there is ZERO tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco in PA right now? Given the amount of tax focused on cigarettes, that is just stupid.

The only thing stupider than that is the legislature itself....
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Old 10-02-2009, 10:06 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 32,920,739 times
Reputation: 2910
Apparently the Republican alternative is taxing arts non-profits and small games of chance at fund-raising events, so to me a tobacco tax looks preferable.
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Old 10-03-2009, 06:25 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,764,882 times
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I don't mind the tobacco tax. I mind the taxing of stop smoking products.

I was wondering what the Republican propaganda is hiding. (I'm not claiming the democrats don't have propaganda, but I only watched the Republicans speak last night.)

I hadn't heard the discussion about the voiding of state contracts. My husband explained how he understood what they were saying. The republicans claim this bill will be unconstutional. If it passes, they're going to court. If the court rules it's unconstitutional, they will have 60 days to pass a new bill. If they dont' meet that deadline, all state contracts will become void. He claims (mind you my husband used to listen to talk radio ) the democrats want to break the unions. (I think it's funny that he would think that.)

Based on Brian's post, it sounds like the gaming tax they were discussing doesn't have anything to do with the casinos and school taxes, but the republicans were claiming that the democrats want to divert the money from gaming tax to a general fund which would increase property tax because those taxes were earmarked for education.

I told my husband that the truth has to be somewhere inbetween. Eighteen years ago, I married a moderate. He started listening to talk radio four years ago, and now he's a conservative conspiracy theorist. Thankfully, he doesn't listen to talk radio anymore. He just watches PNC Live and Cspan, but his interpretations are skewed by past talk radio brainwashing. I've given up caring if he's misguided a long time ago. He's harmless since he isn't registered to vote.

I really should pay more attention to our state government. Does anyone know if there is any validity to what the state Republicans are claiming?
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Old 10-03-2009, 10:26 AM
 
261 posts, read 1,298,036 times
Reputation: 144
Was this (taxing stop smoking aids) something a republican lawmaker claimed would be the effect of putting a tax on smokeless tobacco products during a speech? Because I can't find any other report of this.
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Old 10-03-2009, 10:37 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,764,882 times
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They were in session debating last night. I heard more than one Republican speak.

They were very specific, not vague. They said that the tax would hurt people who were trying to quit smoking.

But I don't know if it's true. They could be just spewing propaganda.
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Old 10-03-2009, 10:45 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,764,882 times
Reputation: 30711
I found a Trib article dated today:

Quote:
The way the bill is written it would tax nicotine chewing gum and lozenges, said Maher. "We're going to punish people who are trying to cease smoking," he said.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...s_646268.html#
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Old 10-03-2009, 11:04 AM
 
261 posts, read 1,298,036 times
Reputation: 144
Thanks Hopes.

So Maher is saying it would affect gum and lozenges (I assume because they are "chewable" products). Hmm - I think I'll wait to see if anyone other that him makes the point - he is consistently against any smoking controls (by vote). I'm not saying he's not correct (I can see how it might be so) but if that really is the case, I can also see easy ways to fix it. I assume that all the other states have managed to work round this.
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Old 10-03-2009, 11:10 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,764,882 times
Reputation: 30711
You're welcome. I'm most interested in figuring out what they claim is unconstitutional and how that involves state contracts.
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