Obama proposes $1 per pack cigarette tax to fund preschools (Reagan, how much, cost)
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The feds have taken a page out of drug dealers marketing playbook.... here is some free heroin, enjoy.
Hooked yet, want some more H? it is going to cost you!
Obama appeals to the short attention span intellects.
Again, we don't want to take your ciggys away from you..... we just want to wean you from tobbacco to mj. the smoke won't hurt you and you are funding preschools where we can indoctrinate your children, who shouldn't be in a house where people smoke anyway.
I am cool with that, and Spaten, it would be even better if everyone gave up smoking, but we both know that will never happen. Smokers will continue to whine while flushing away their money on more cigarettes.
While I don't smoke, that's their business...as nasty and dumb as I think it is.
NYC raised thier cig tax quite a bit and I've read a number of articles about how the smokers (and mafia) are getting around it.
All of the Indian reservation smoke shops are no doubt praying for increased federal taxes.
I quit before a pack was even 4 bucks about 12 years ago. The government is just going to steal more money from the rest of us when everyone quits.
They won't quit, they will just have a buddy that buys a months worth of cigs at a time for each of them and drives them back from whatever the closest reservation is.
At some point, tax revenue actually FALLS as there is a tipping point in terms of convenience vs. cost.
You can see actual examples like around certain state borders where one state has a notably higher sales tax. You can't buy a TV, Refrigerator or other big ticket item very easily within 50 miles of the border as all the businesses selling those things are on the other side of the line.
Same with people that fill up on gas in Iowa or Missouri instead of Illinois....and on and on and on....
I am cool with that, and Spaten, it would be even better if everyone gave up smoking, but we both know that will never happen. Smokers will continue to whine while flushing away their money on more cigarettes.
Meanwhile other people flush their money away on other things such as golf, jogging, fishing, boating, large soft drinks, etc.
The nice thing about the USA is that we can CHOOSE how we will flush our money away.... until the do gooders in government tell use we can't.
MORE taxes on cigarettes? Aren't they taxed enough already?
A cigarette tax is the most regressive tax we have, as it directly effects those at the lower end of the income scale far more than it does higher income earners. Not only are lower income earners more likely to smoke, the tax effects them far more than it does someone in a higher income bracket:
It's a legal, albeit unhealthy, vice enjoyed by millions of Americans, and it's accessibility is being reduced by continually increasing taxes. It's a forced modification to behavior the Government desires, and rather that make something illegal they just increase taxes to make it harder for people to afford.
People should be allowed to make these choices for themselves, and if they end up with lung cancer, that was their decision. I have no skin in this game, as I've always been a non-smoker, but we should all oppose actions that aim to reduce anyone's personal freedom.
I agree. This is a backdoor way of implementing prohibition. And we know how that worked for alcohol.
Sorry, no, it certainly IS a matter of diminishing returns. This is one smoker (40 years, pack and a half per day) that quit cold turkey when the STATE put a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes to pay for The Children's Health Insurance Program (Why is it that these taxes are always "For The Children"?).
At that time, I finished the cigs I had on hand, and have never bought another pack since.
obama and his cohorts are dumb enough to think that adding another $10 to a carton of cigarettes, when a carton already exceed $100 in some states, won't result in a decline of smokers?
It makes me wonder what HE is smoking!
I roll my own now. I started back in December where I bought cigarette tobacco but the bag cost me $28.00 for half a pound, and the cigarettes rolled like crap! So, I stopped, and continued to buy store bought. I was buying an off brand at $3.99 a pack, plus tax. But buying them daily still adds up. Well, a few weeks ago, I decided to have another go at it. This time I bought a 1lb bag of pipe tobacco for $10.99, and 200 tubes for $2.50 a box. I still have several tubes, and close to 3 quarters of a bag, and haven't bought a pack of store bought cigarettes in almost 3 weeks. It actually tastes better, doesn't contain the additives that they put in store bought, and may in fact get me to eventually quit, as it can be a bit tedious at times to roll them. I roll at least a pack a day (yesterday rolled 2 as I didn't roll the day before). I use recycled store bought packs that I saved, and can fit about 17 in one of them.
Meanwhile other people flush their money away on other things such as golf, jogging, fishing, boating, large soft drinks, etc.
The nice thing about the USA is that we can CHOOSE how we will flush our money away.... until the do gooders in government tell use we can't.
Indeed!
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ciggys give way to mj for preschool funding
