Cigarettes....

Discussion in 'Politics' started by MountyBounty, Mar 16, 2009.

  1. Why are they taxing cigarettes to hell right now? I just picked up a pack of parliament menthol lights here in PA and it was $6.30 cents. they used to be around $4.30 a year ago. Additionally, the new federal tax of .63 cents is gonna be placed on ciggs across the country starting on April 1st. $7 a pack ain't cool. This summer people don't need to throw a damn Tea party but a Cigarette party instead. sorry for my nicotine induced rant :D
     
  2. Since smokers lose about 10 years off life expectancy, I think its to make up for missed income tax. :smoking:
     
  3. haha that is probably the case. Even if someone organized a cigarette party all the health nuts would love the image of cigarettes being thrown into the water. I guess its a lose/lose situation. I suppose that if anyone is a smoker they deserve to be treated like a 2nd class citizen and pay for the Gov's credit card. I just can't wait till they tax alcohol like tobacco. people will go ape shit
     
  4. Its $5.63 a pack after tax for my shit and its crazy! I wish they taxed alcohol like they do cigarettes man, especially since I'm not a drinker haha.
     
  5. Another reason to quit...

    Or roll your own.
     
  6. Just went up to around 7.80 a pack in Massachusetts.

    Why do they keep raising the tax for it? Easy. It's been vilified as a major danger to everyone's health (this includes non-smokers).

    So, less people are going to complain. The big anti-smokers obviously won't. Non-smokers who normally wouldn't agree with a tax hike won't say much either because it won't effect them.

    You only have a small minority of smokers who are actually going to fight against a tax increase. And their voices will obviously go unnoticed.


    So basically cigarettes are just something that are very easy to tax without any complaints, and politicians know it will generate a steady cash flow for some time to come.

    Politicians also love to raise little issues like this into big ones, helps take the public's mind off the real problems in the country.
     
  7. i'd actually +rep you if i could man. i never thought of it like that. damnnnn good observation!!
     
  8. Yes, cigarettes are unhealthy to everyone, that is why they have made it so you cant really smoke them in public areas anymore. However I think if you are near somebody who smokes that's your own fault, and the smoker shouldn't have to pay for that. Go somewhere else, these places like bars - you don't need to go to a bar, or go to a smokeless one. People think it should be a right to go to the store, but its not its a privilege just as smoking is.
     

  9. Government shouldn't be regulating where you can smoke. If a bar owner wants to allow smoking he should be allowed to if he wants to ban it he should be allowed to. It's his bar. Same goes for restaurants, stores, etc. That is THEIR right.
     
  10. By me it's going to go up to $8-10 a pack on average.

    Might as well just grow your own, or get a fat tin of tobacco (without most of the added chemicals) and roll them yourself. Plus, it helps you work on your rolling technique.
     
  11. I saw a clip somewhere that said over 5000 new taxes are beginning soon. Everything from cigarettes to cat litter.
     

  12. I don't know about that. I wish there was a shred of truth in drug politics.
     
  13. The concept behind cig taxes make sense in my opinion. Smokers are a drain to our economy because they tax the health care industry via their lung cancer, emphasima, hospitle fees, etc. so the taxes are to make up for that.

    additionally, i feel anything thats inherently negetive should be taxed. cigarettes are one of those items.

    yah dig
     
  14. Marijuana has the ability to be negative just as tobacco, that said the cons may not be as great, but they do exist. So in conclusion, anything that is inherently negative should be taxed to non-existance, marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, pets, food, healthcare, remember its everything and anything. ;)
     
  15. wrong brah. Bud should be treated just like alcohol. I don't know if they tax alcohol but its similar to bud so yea. Cigarettes have little to no positive impact on people. Sure, we all like them, but thats not enough because objectively you can't say something has more positive than negative impacts just because you like something. things that hurt you should have a tax. maybe alcohol and bud should be taxed if they're sold. idk. pets, no. HC, no. Guns, no:hello:
     
  16. Wrong! Why should people be taxed to harm themselves? There is no justification to this at all.
     
  17. there is justification. If someone harms themselves, they have to go to the hospital. You can't run a hospital for free so you can pay for it via taxes. Smokers pay extra tax on what harms them because their physical ailments are a burden to the health-care industry.

    see what i did there? with the logic n shit?
     
  18. In a free society, that would be true.

    The nanny state will never stop growing, and it will never stop adding restrictive legislation on personal liberties.

    Legal paternalism will only grow as our country is further socialized...
     
  19. I'm tired of hearing all this malarky about the free society and stuff. Cigs are bad for you and cause health problems. This burden is taken up by the state. If the state ran no hospitals then taxes on cigs would make no sense. but they do make sense, because smokers are a burden on the healthcare industry.
     
  20. You can run a hospital for profit too, don't forget. Churches used to operate hospitals too, often acting only out of charity.

    The state sanctioned health care monopoly has made this impossble to do today, however, with intense liabilities and regulations placed on doctors and institutions due to sue-happy Americans. Patients cannot receive care without costly insurance, and medical centers charge exuberant prices due to the third-party financier (the state).
     

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