New York Times:
Mississippi's tax on cigarettes, at 18 cents a pack the nation's third-lowest, has not been raised since 1985. Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist, has long opposed an increase.
But this year, state lawmakers have gone from giving little thought to a tobacco tax increase to arguing over how much the tax should go up and where the money should go.
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Very good idea. And while we are at it, let's double the gas tax. It's the right thing to do.
My cartons in Virginia went up from $30 two weeks ago, to $37.
If it wasn't for every other item I buy at the store getting more and more expensive, I'd freak out.
Everything goes up except my income.
I never believed in you before, but if you can hear me, "PLEASE SAVE US, SUPERMAN!"
You know what else keeps going up? Your chances of having lung cancer. Lung cancer is great. They don't even have a working chemo for it. It kills you cold. You have 14 to 27 weeks for the final stage. But I bet most people wish it would be over sooner rather than later.
:-)
I could live to be 100 yrs old if I quit doing the things that made me want to live to be 100. I don't want to live forever. Ever visit an old folk's home?
then why not ban it altogether? make it impossible for people like me to buy cigarettes anymore. its seems that the states are okay with people dying from tobacco as long as they have a steady revenue stream from the people who are addicted to the stuff.
hypocrisy at it's worst.
How ironic you mentioned Superman, Christopher Reeves, since his wife died from lung cancer and never smoked a day in her life.
Either you're misusing the word ironic, or I just missed it all together.
And Virginia STILL has one of the lowest cigarette tax rates in the country, because state legislators are owned by big tobacco in Richmond.
Still, they managed to pass a smoking ban in Virginia.
it's unfortunate that they have to target smokers and what is taxed for the non-smokers? Pick a different tax that would fairly tax every tax payer in this US. Raise the sales tax in your states...t
Funny how all those states are ones that are working to break the American Auto Workers Unions but subsidize the foreign auto makers.
I suppose the next tax will be on the amount of time that you spend outside of your homes?
How ridiculous and penny-anti can one get?
They're chewing your Constitution to shreds and nobody, in your so-called government, is taking a stand?
Please show just where in the constitution is smoking delineated as a right?
smoking tobacco pre-dates the constitution in this country. show me where in the constitution where smoking tobacco is banned.
they tried it once with alcohol...
Try these two amendments for starters:
* Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
* Tenth Amendment – Powers of states and people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
No, the next tax will be an AIR tax.
Why not decriminalize and regulate weed, tax it and tobacco alike. Schools, healthcare, etc. are not free. Taxes need to be adequate to do the job.
The argument for raising taxes is to help balance the state budgets. When no one can afford cigarettes what will they come after next? Sugar (it is bad for you, soft drinks), fast food (too fatty, high cholesterol, bad for your heart), dangerous hobbies ( four wheeling, skiing, horseback riding, etc., raises health care, trips to emergency rooms), meat eaters ( eating meat grilled outside causes cancer), people who have speeding tickets ( causes unsafe conditions on the highways), etc. The sin tax on cigarettes is suppose to pay for our uninsured children. I don't know if that is the state tax or the federal tax on cigarettes, but I think it is the federal tax. When no one can afford cigarettes something else will be classified as a sin and it will be taxed. We are little by little losing our freedoms in this country. Facts are made up by experts to persuade legislatures to vote a certain way. Until they know the reason why so many people in the U.S. get and die from cancer every year the cigarette has been the number one demonized cause. Many people die from lung cancer every year that have never smoked. Pesticides, pollution, mercury, poisons etc. are put on the back burner because it is easier to manipulate the public against smokers instead of going after the corrupt corporations that harm all of our health.
Couldn't have said it better.
while you're at it, might want to raise the tax on booze and other "nonessentials"
like tea?
I say go for it. Raise the taxes so high no one will be able to afford anything.
"...The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."
Tax it so much so people won't smoke anymore, then you won't have any revenue. Ya! good plan
Where does it say that?
Wake up!
Exactly!!!
it WILL get to that point when the monies gained from the over-taxing of tobacco will start to dwindle, and one day (albeit many years from now) will pretty much dry up altogether. then what will they tax to make up for the lost revenue?
Your television viewing time?
If the past has taught me anything, I'd say salt.
Still lots of vices to tax.
You know that cancer therapy is expensive, right? And lung cancer is mostly related to smoking. It's one of the few cancers that one can actually avoid by living healthy. So whatever we would lose on the revenue side, we would make up for in health care savings.
If we sign waivers, denying health care for smoking related illnesses, can we cut me and millions of Americans a break? I already don't smoke in the restaurants, bars, or 30' from any entrance to public buildings.
I don't want to put anyone else out; I just wanna have a smoke once in awhile.
Except that we actually save money over the long run because smokers generally don't live as long. This entails a net savings on medicare and social security.
The tax on cigarettes have gone up for everything. I am a smoker and have no problem with paying the tax if it goes for a good cause like the childrens health bill. However, that being said why is it that the state I live in hasn't raised the tax on alcohol for 18 years. Why should one bad habit be taxed and not another????
Good question.
I was just going to post something similar
Smoking is not a bad habit regardless of what "they" say. Smoked all my life, nigh onto 70 years worth and never had a problem. Course, I don't have the high taxes like you. $1.30 per pack is an increase from the $.90 per pack of a few years ago.
Still, it's my body, my choice and I'll go out with one between my fingers!
$1.30 a pack?!! where do you live?
I do not smoke, and would like it banned in restaurants and indoor public places; however I am not anti tobacco or against the private use of it. I have always suspected that some of the worst dangers from tobacco are the chemicals in the product and not the natural weed.
It may not be a bad habit but it is nevertheless responsible for the majority of all lung cancers.
$1.30 a pack? Where is that?
That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you. Please promise that you won't ask for a dime of medicare money when you're finally hospitalized. Exercise your "personal responsibi
I wish I had half the money back I've spent TRYING to quit! Filters, patches, gum, cold turkey, hypnosis, pills....a
I agree with other posters...
Leave us poor smokers alone!
you have my sympathy. I've been through it all, too.
Thanks! It has been the biggest battle of my life!
My Mom was a smoker for almost 30 years. One day she decided to quit. No patch, no nothing. She had a hard couple of months. She hasn't smoked since, except for once. After the first puff she became nauseous and couldn't believe she had ever smoked in her life.
Forget about the patch. That's the pharmaceutical industry cashing in on you.
Cold turkey and keep doing it, no matter how you feel.
tried it. trust me, not everyone's system is the same. it's like assuming that ALL people who drink have the ability to simply give it up.....
My mother continued to smoke, even after she had a heart attack. Cancer finally killed her.
Let's treat smoking for it is: an addiction.
What? Taxes on a great American product? Never!!! Don't you realize that tobacco is as American as mom and apple pie? Some of America's first exported goods were tobacco. My gawd, where are we going in America? chuckle chuckle chuckle
fast food is also as American as Mom and apple pie. let's tax the heII out of that too. how many hearts give out each year due to the fats contained in fries and Big Macs etc. .......
Oh, yes, Oh, yes, Oh, yes yes yes. I hope that was as satifying for you as it was for me.
Amen. Just wait until the bill comes due for the diabetes treatment of all of the victims of fast food.
Apple pie isn't American.
Butter sticks. If you want to start with what kills people, start with butter.
Rub it on the outside of the body, then it doesn't kill people but helps to make them.
I get the feeling that you'd be okay with taxing everything but tofu, goats milk and alfalfa sprouts...
; )
How about going after the Tax Cheats robbing the treasury blind!
They are gorging themselves on the savings that keep America running and using it to buy fancy vacations. While they let our state collapse.
Tax them for everything. They owe every penny of it. Pull our military from a useless war and send them to the real one, the caribbean tax havens. Impound it all.
Once we have their ill gotten loot, we can concentrate on the next big problem, all our "allies" expecting tariff free importing into our country.
We could start by redesigning and printing new money overnight. Allow about a week for the exchange of old dollars for new. Impose a 1% tax on each exchange. Watch all the laundered cash get wrung out.
interesting idea!
At a certain point, increased tobacco taxes raise less money than the cost of prosecuting and incarcerating cigarette smugglers. There is a limit as to how much tax is effective.
I have been saying for YEARS that we need to make a higher tax on alcohol and tobacco products..
when you do bad things, you get punished..
When the little guy does "bad" things, the little guy gets punished.
When the rich do "bad" things, they get rewarded.
I'd like to see them tax the churches. I subsidize my small town's churches (one on every corner) with my property taxes....f
You are so right...he
great idea- at least tax any benefits that a pastor/min
If you realize that cigarettes are an addiction why would you want to punish people who are sick? Unless you don’t see an addiction as a health issue itself, in which case you are ignorant and have been for many years!
sorry.... thats a sickness someone chose, not one that they were unfortunate to get.... addiction to tobacco is not cancer
Get real.... don't smoke.... we are told that since we were kids.... thick headed idiots just didn't listen and then expect people to have sympathy..
I guess you'd be for placing an additional $10 a bottle tax on wine, then.
why not.... if you want it, you'll pay for it
Think how much revenue we'd generate if we taxed all things unhealthy -
obesity
cholesterol
carbon dioxide
jaywalking
Don't forget
lack of exercising
not taking nature walks
couch potato syndrome
and there are many many more
You can't tax obesity because it's discrimination.
You can't tax cholesterol. It's mostly being produced by your own body.
You can tax carbon dioxide that come from fossil fuels. No need to tax CO2 produced by your body because that carbon came from plants which took it from the air.
Jaywalking is already taxed... you can get a ticket.
"when you do bad things, you get punished..
The question is when is enough, enough? In 1967 the tax on a pack of cigarettes in Calif was .07 cents. In 1999 it had grown to .87 cents a pack. The state of Calif actually thought consumption of cigarettes had decreased because of their lower tax revenue collection
Calif has lost millions of dollars in tax revenue because of internet sales, border sales, and Native American sales.
Just when I'm ready to start smoking again, acct. all of the bad news.
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First Posted: 03-21-09 11:33 AM | Updated: 04-21-09 05:12 AM