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Why would I be biased against smoking if it didn't affect me? My perception is the RESULT of of what smokers do while smoking, not the other way around.
Yes, there are plenty of rude, obnoxious people in the world who don't smoke, but at least their behavior doesn't directly affect my health.
Not sure what to say. You seem to be beyond all reason.
Have a nice life, and try not to be so angry and bitter. I've heard that stress leads to shortness of breath, heart attacks and a shortened life span...
- $96.7 billion is spent on public and private health care combined, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and each American household spends $630 a year in federal and state taxes due to smoking.
- $97.6 billion a year in lost productivity, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
I'm okay with raising the tax on tobacco to discourage usage, I only hope that the money goes into the health care budget. The medical costs listed above end up in the price WE pay for health insurance. The costs of lost productivity end up raising the prices of goods and services that we all use.
As far as taxing unhealthy foods, that's okay, it will shift consumption from hamburger to chicken and fish. The government could tax foods based on a simply formula that measures the ratio of fat calories to total calories in an item.
Major tax increases on all forms of drinking alcohol should also follow.
Sin taxes WORK at lowering consumption of items have a negative effect on society. Imagine the costs we pay for damages caused by alcohol, not just the passive costs, but the costs of the carnage on our highways, courts, jails and lost productivity.
What a crock. Sin taxes exist simply because they know people will pay the tax. Does this cigerette tax go directly to benefit sick smokers? No, it goes into the general fund to be spent at the whim of lawmakers. What is going to happen if everybody does quit?
Are you willing to shell out a couple bucks every day to cover the lost income?
Nothing should be taxed that does not deal with running the country. If someone doesn't get sick does he get reimbursed? What if they die of something else? My motherinlaw died last year after smoking over 60 years. God only knows the taxes she paid, yet her insurance paid her medical & we paid to bury her. Is she owed money because she paid her own way even tho she contributed for 60 years into what you seem to think is a sick smoker fund?
There was a man by the name of James F. Fixx. At one time in his life he was obese and a two pack a day smoker. One day he decided to turn his life around, he started exercising, eating healthy, and he quit smoking. He lost over 60 pounds and got into such great shape that he made a career out of being a health nut. He wrote several books on jogging and exercise and extolled the virtues of healthy living. All was well for Jim Fixx. Then one day, during his morning jog, he died of a massive heart attack on a stretch of highway, some 17 years after quitting smoking and eating healthy. He was 52 years old.
Here was a man who was in prime physical condition and who had quit smoking for a long enough period of time that his previous history of smoking would have had little to no effect on his heart.
Because he was born with a hole in his heart. Bad comparison since his death had nothing to do with smoking or excercise.
The news said the hotline to help smokers quit received over 5000 new calls in CA and the tax may help thousands quit smoking. So there is some good news there.
Not if theres a need for the tax. And if theres no need it shouldn't exist.
I'd just like to know for you anti smoking Nazi's once you totally emiminate smoking who will be your next target of people who annoy you?
Anybody want to confess?
Spare me from your complaining about upwind smell and cig butts on the ground,you have effectively banned smoking in all public places but that isn't good enough,now the outside bothers you,now someone smelling of cigarette is a infringment on your rights.Lets just face it,smokers have bent over backwards and lost to your laws but you won't be satisfied until you have brainwashed people into thinking you are the enlightened elite because you friggin don't smoke and eat lettuce and jog a couple miles.
I think we should tax you on your smell of sweat and your lettuce farts.........
Whow !!!!
Do I detect a nicotine poisoning fit?
If the brain dead companies who sell smoke to those addicted would take out the nicotine would you still suck smoke?
I dont know about you but where there is smoke there is fire. If I see and smell a fire I run for my safety, not suck it into my lungs.
Right now brainwashing has occured to where it is fashionable to hate smokers.Soon it will turn to fat people,and those that ridicule them will turn the reason to fat people cost them tax money and intrude on their senses.
And then it will turn to some other fraction of society that doesn't blend in,conform,submit,obey,who have tendencies to be individual and "divisive to the harmony of society".
See, there you go labeling ALL smokers as discourteous litterers. Did you read my earlier response to you?
Did you ever stop to think that maybe YOU'RE the one who's not being courteous or respectful? Look at how you talk to people - people you don't even know. People you may pass on the street later today. Those very people you're referring to, who smoke but would never light up next to you at a bus stop, and carry a pocket ash tray to ensure that they always have someplace to put their spent cigarettes. People just like me...
Frankly, you're an *-****. I really don't mean to name-call or launch a personal attack, but you're exactly the type of person that you complain about. EXACTLY. The only difference is that you don't smoke.
In life, you get what you give. Perhaps if you were a little less of a jerk, people would be a little less of a jerk in return.
I agree with mearth. Smokers do not consider butts litter. They get tossed out the windows all the time. They empty ash trays in parking lots all the time. Your right, not all but the vast majority do.
If I tossed a butt out the window the pigs would not even look at me. If I tossed a paper cup out the window the pigs would give me a littering ticket.
I agree with mearth. Smokers do not consider butts litter. They get tossed out the windows all the time. They empty ash trays in parking lots all the time. Your right, not all but the vast majority do.
If I tossed a butt out the window the pigs would not even look at me. If I tossed a paper cup out the window the pigs would give me a littering ticket.
And you can limit littering by using a campaign to persuade and inform people to stop,but instead many choose to force people by force of government.It has been said and said again by some "it isn't good for you,you shouldn't do it anyway",it is nothing more than nannying.You aren't concerned with fixing a problem while maintaining freedom,you (anti smoking Nazi's) are concerned with power over other people's lives.
I have an addiction to cigarettes. I've tried many times to quit, I really believe it's all mental. My lungs are like the lungs of a 70 year old yet I keep smoking. Why? Because it's an addiction. I only blame myself for starting smoking 20 years ago. I do want to quit if only to get back the energy & lung power I used to have, but then at other times I seriously love to smoke. I do not appreciate when people assume I'm an as**ole just because I'm a smoker, not true at all. No one is perfect, everyone has their vice. It would be extremely helpful if insurance covered the cost of smoking cessation programs, however they don't, at least my insurance doesn't. I could have my doctor prescribe Welbutrin to help me quit, but he advised me on the cost per month for those pills. The only way it would be covered is if he put on my record that it was used for depression. As of right now, I'd rather not have that on my record for I'm not depressed. Maybe I'll rethink that option though. In the meantime, it would be helpful if smokers were not looked on w/such disdain.
I feel for you.
I quit 2 years ago April 1st after 20 some years. I was smoking 2 packs a day & it was costing me over $300 a month. I'm not sure what the pills cost but if its less than the cigerettes you might give it more thought.
I quit with those patches. It was the ONLY way I could start the day sans cigarettes. After 2 weeks I stopped the patches, managed not to choke my wife when she lit up & just kept not buying them or bumming them.
Its not easy, but you only get one ride & I wanted to make mine last so I could get old & be a burden on my kids. I loved to smoke, hard to say why now but at the time, life without cigarettes was impossible to imagine.
Do it for everyone you love if you cant do it for you!
I agree with mearth. Smokers do not consider butts litter. They get tossed out the windows all the time. They empty ash trays in parking lots all the time. Your right, not all but the vast majority do.
Where do you get your information? Cite ONE source stating that either "smokers do not consider butts litter" or "the vast majority" are indiscriminate about what they do with them.
You and Mearth both have severely limited and biased views about the character of people that choose to smoke. What's your vice? Would you mind if I made all kinds of blanket statements about everyone that partakes in that vice, regardless of the validity of those statements?
Tell me - do you justify your ignorance of the facts just to make yourself feel better about stripping freedoms away from people and property rights from business owners? Or do you just not care that you're doing these things because "cigarettes are icky"?
Quote:
If I tossed a butt out the window the pigs would not even look at me.
Again, show me where this idea came from.
Cigarettes tossed from a moving car are not only litter, but a fire hazard as well. No law enforcement officer is going to let that slide if they see it happen. This goes double for a motorcycle officer. (As a motorcycle rider, I can personally attest to the rage one feels when a burning cigarette hits their chest at 70mph).
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I loved to smoke, hard to say why now but at the time, life without cigarettes was impossible to imagine.
