I filled my car up today in my usual monthly fill-up; I don't drive that much. I passed one insanely busy gas station, and finally just circled and waited until I could get a spot. That's pretty much never happened before.
I chatted with the guy next to me, this is Texas, we're friendly. I said this was crazy! He said there was a huge line inside because of the cigarette tax tomorrow. Wha? The cigarette tax is up? Sure enough! I thought it would be the state, but it was the feds! Check it out. Not only are they up, they're way, way up. I can't even imagine how many cigarettes were sold today.
I like sin taxes. I wish Texas had more taxes on things like alcohol and cigarettes. Heck, I even wish we had more gambling than just the Lotto so we could get some of all that money Texas pours out in online gambling, but nobody asked me.
I'm glad the cigarette tax is up. I'm not thrilled Obama will just give it to banks and GM and so very much pork, but I'll take a cigarette tax over pretty much any other kind of tax.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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9 comments:
You might not like it so much if the "sin tax" was on one of your "sins," Dog. :P
It's all the liberals know how to do to generate money for their programs. Funny thing about tax cuts is the revenue will go up due to sales going up. Taxes going up is one way to make sure the recession doesn't end, but prolongs it. Statism says it all.
Yeah I don't mind the tax cause, i don't smoke! Most of Mr M's friends do though, I'll have to ask them what they think. Of course they are so tuned out to the world they probably don't even know yet.
No, I like all sin taxes, even those for my sins. That's alcohol, gambling, and luxury anything.
I agree with Jim. Obvious this is a difference in political beliefs. I don't understand why the government feels the need to tax someone because they feel something is "bad" for them -the "sin" tax as you call it. Its like in NYC they want to put a tax on regular soda because it is bad for you. I just don't agree with it - the government should stay out of my business. If I want to kill myself by smoking or drink regular soda then that is my problem. Lucky for me I don't smoke (or drink soda) but if I did I would be furious.
I am sick and tired of being taxed to death. I don't look at this tax as a sin tax though. I look at it as a tax to discourage people from smoking. (I don't smoke, but I am overweight - losing it, but still overweight. I read where state employees in some states are being assessed an extra fee each month because of the medical costs associated with obesity.)
Here are some of the costs to taxpayers (non-smokers and smokers).
Cigarette smoking remains the single most important preventable cause of death, disease, and disability in the U.S. It results in “more deaths each year than AIDS, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, motor vehicle crashes, and fires – combined”. 2 It is estimated that cigarette smoking kills more than 440,000 people a year in the U.S. 3 Further, the number of people in the U. S. who die from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), sometimes called second-hand smoking, and from pregnancy-related smoking is approximately 40,000 per year. 4
The total annual public and private healthcare expenditures caused by smoking-related disease and disability is at least 75 billion dollars. Annual Medicaid payments total $23.5 billion , with the federal government share being about 57% and the states paying 43%. The federal government also pays at least $20 billion per year in smoking-related Medicare costs. An additional $8billion in smoking-related healthcare costs is paid through the Veteran’s Administration health system.4
source:ion:
Parish, T: Financing smoking related illness and smoking cessation in the United States. Can it be done?. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. January 2004. Volume 2 Number 1. Thomas G. Parish, PA-C, MPH Assistant Professor Medical College of Ohio
So much of the reason for the tax is to place the burden of the care for smoking related illnesses on the smoker. In addition, funds are to be used for smoking cessation programs and programs aimed at those who do not smoke (esp. young adults) to encourage them never to start.
Actually I don't like sin tax.
Everytime they raise sin taxes, less and less people 'sin'.
So where are all the states and the feds going to find the funds to that they use to get from those sinners.
I don't mind resonable taxation - but the latest hike is a huge jump.
Oh and I don't go with the 'well healthcare for smokers' will be down arguement. That I'll buy when they start taxing heavily all other things that cause health problems....like fast food.
I do feel like we should tax cigarettes to offset the related health costs to the state, but I still feel bad for the people that this increase will really hurt.
I'm not a smoker, but I've known a lot of smokers who have really, really tried to stop. My aunt, bless her heart, has battled with this. It's not like she doesn't understand the risks. It's not like she smokes because they're too cheap. She's a good person, and a very strong one, too. She's come through so much, but yet this battle is too much. Maybe if she had access to meds to help her she could, but like so many people she can't afford them. (Maybe more of the tax money should go to helping people quit in addition to prevention!)
There are a lot of people who are already struggling and increased taxes on things like this is only going to push them deeper, if not over the edge.
Thanks Deb for quoting my obscure little paper on costs related to smoking and attempts to stop smoking.
You are right that the taxes are meant to discourage new smokers. New smokers start in their teens and they are the most sensitive to the cost of the cigarettes themselves.
Another important point is that smoking causes diseases that we all pay for one way or another. For smokers to just break even on the costs of their habit/addiction to society, cigarettes would have to cost more than $7.00 per pack.
In the 1960's more than 60% of the population smoked. This has decreased considerably, but we have been stuck at about 23% for the past 15 years. A way to try to decrease this further is to attempt to target new smokers... and they are sensitive to the cost of a pack. That is why taxes are the target.
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