Smokers, cigarette sellers fuming over tax that takes a pack up to at least $12.75

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what? Shouldn't people be allowed to choose for themselves how to treat their bodies? Some people go jogging at 4AM. Then go to the gym at 5AM. I prefer to sleep at that time of day. Some people are vegetarians. Some people love meat. Some people play in rock bands with no ear plugs. Other people work in silent libraries all day long. People work in factories that have questionable emissions. Others work in organic gardens. Heck, you can even buy organic cigarettes to really throw a monkey wrench in there. I don't think organic tobacco is really any better though as the leaves are caked in flies.

Some people ride a bicycle to work instead of drive. But again, some people ride their bicycles without a helmet.

The bottom line is that nobody wants to be told how to live their lives.

So what? I don't believe smoking ought to be banned - I'm perfectly fine with it being permitted within designated smoking zones.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Its a MADHOUSE

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Ban it completely. If it is such a health risk, it is ridiculous to continue selling the product.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The government should lay off the sin taxes and start taxing a broader base of people. Let's say internet taxes. At $5/day in taxes, it should bring in quite a tidy sum of revenue. You don't have to use the internet. Might be hard to quit it. But you could if you really wanted to. Hey, they're running deficits. They need the money. Same with the child tax credit. It should simply be the child tax. No credit. You got kids? You pay more. Somebody has to pay for all that SCHIP and the schools are always looking for more money anyways.

It amazes me that people are all for free speech even when there are hateful groups. And against censorship even if it means things you don't like will be allowed. But bring up the topic of smoking and all freedoms go out the door. Why are people anti-freedom? I've even seen people complain about having to breath in 2nd hand smoke while they're sitting in their cars idling in drive-thru lanes at fast food restaurants. (smoking area for the restaurant being outside near the drive-thru lane)

Nobody has any "right" to go to a restaurant, bar, or mall and not breath in cigarette smoke. Everybody has a "preference" to go to a restaurant, bar, or mall and not breath in cigarette smoke. Major difference. Go into just about any bar or club late at night and you'll be subject to loud bands playing on stage. Loud enough that your ears ring for several hours afterwords. You have no right to tell the bar owner that they can't have loud bands playing. You only have a preference..........But in today's society, we tend to think that the majority's preference should be a right. This is no different from the racist segregation laws of the past. People demanded government not allow races to intermingle. That was the majority.

Something like 20% of the population in the US smokes today. It varies by state. About 14% in Utah up to 30% in Kentucky and Nevada. Restaurants should be able to institute their own no smoking rules independent of government. Want to eat out with the family? I bet you a restaurant that caters to non-smokers will do better than one that allows both. In another way, it means people have to wait in line longer for tables. In the old days, you had smoking and non smoking in restaurants. The non-smoking side would have a 15 minute wait. Or you could go sit in the smoking section right now. Today? You gotta wait. Conversely, bars that allow smokers to patronize the establishment tend to do better than non smoking bars. This doesn't mean a cloud of dense smoke inside. The bars that have large opening french doors to the patios, and high quality filtration and ventilation, will attract both smokers and non smokers alike. The ones that have the foggy ceilings will attract no non smokers and even smokers will pass them by.

But instead, we take the easy way out.. We kick the smokers outside to the patio or outside the front door. And then we complain that non-smokers can't enjoy sitting on the patio or walk by the front door without getting smoke in their general area. And it's outside for crying out loud! Well why is that? Who decided to make these people go to the patios and front doors in the first place?

:thumbs:

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ban it completely. If it is such a health risk, it is ridiculous to continue selling the product.

As I said I don't believe in banning it. But there is no "if" on it being a health risk. It absolutely is.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I used to "import" enough cigarettes from Ukraine to pay for my plane ticket (80 cents per pack for Marlboros, REAL Marlboros) the pirate cigarettes "Bolshevik firecrackers" I called them, were 40 cents per pack. I could usually bring in enough to last from one trip to the next, so I haven't bought cigarettes here for quite a few years. I consider myself a "tax protester"

I quit smoking in December and now I have no idea how to save enough money to buy plane tickets.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I used to "import" enough cigarettes from Ukraine to pay for my plane ticket (80 cents per pack for Marlboros, REAL Marlboros) the pirate cigarettes "Bolshevik firecrackers" I called them, were 40 cents per pack. I could usually bring in enough to last from one trip to the next, so I haven't bought cigarettes here for quite a few years. I consider myself a "tax protester"

I quit smoking in December and now I have no idea how to save enough money to buy plane tickets.

Your wife will save all the money you need by buying stuff on SALE!

[Nagishkaw 510]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBSHNZW-b0

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[Ban Hammer 13,349]

Your wife will save all the money you need by buying stuff on SALE!

[ValerieA 350]

I remember in 1994 when the federal and provincial gov'ts in Canada cut tobacco taxes to cut down on illegal cigarettes. Ontario had one of the largest cuts, at $19.20 per carton. It was very successful, increasing tax revenues and shutting down illegal smoke shacks. Apparently, taxes have slowly increased again over the intervening years such that they estimate that 50% of the cigarettes are illegal there now.

The link has some of the stats about this in it; note that it is a piece by an MPP that wants to decrease smuggling by decreasing taxes again.

Link

[Texanadian 10]

I remember in 1994 when the federal and provincial gov'ts in Canada cut tobacco taxes to cut down on illegal cigarettes. Ontario had one of the largest cuts, at $19.20 per carton. It was very successful, increasing tax revenues and shutting down illegal smoke shacks. Apparently, taxes have slowly increased again over the intervening years such that they estimate that 50% of the cigarettes are illegal there now.

The link has some of the stats about this in it; note that it is a piece by an MPP that wants to decrease smuggling by decreasing taxes again.

Link

They do it backwards in BC. They raise the tax and then put a portion of the new tax money towards anti-smuggling efforts. Go figure.

New Hampshire has the right idea. They intentionally set the state tobacco tax rate lower than all the surrounding states. There is also no sales tax in NH. As such, they do a good legal cross border business with people from surrounding states.

Texas went from 41 cents to $1.41 awhile back. Now all of a sudden, people are going to Louisiana (36 cents) to buy cigarettes. I'm surprised that California is still at 87 cents. You'd think they would have raised that long ago.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I can't find a more current map I can post here. Here is one for last year:

Here is a more current one:

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0222.pdf

[Texanadian 10]

Mme Jeanne Calment, who was listed as the world's oldest human whose birth date could be certified, died at 122. She had begun smoking as a young woman. At 117 she quit smoking (by that age she was just smoking two or three cigarettes per day because she was blind and was too proud to ask often for someone to light her cigarettes for her). But she resumed smoking when she was 118 because, as she said, not smoking made her miserable and she was too old to be made miserable. She also said to her doctor: "Once you've lived as long as me, only then can you tell me not to smoke." Good point! [uSA Today, "Way to go, champ," 10/18/95].

When Mme. Calment died at 122 in l997, the new longevity champ became 116-year-old Marie-Louise Meilleur, of Canada. Mme. Meilleur had chain-smoked all her adult life (as her grandson said, "She always had a cigarette dangling from her lips as she worked,"--AP, 8/15/97, reported in Miami Herald, p. 2A). She did give up smoking, however, when she was nearly 100.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Texanadian

[ValerieA 350]

SC tax is only 7c?

Texanadian, how much can be taken across state borders? There is a limit on how much you can cross a provincial border with, I'm thinking it is one carton. I'll go see if I can find it. Same goes for liquor.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

SC tax is only 7c?

Texanadian, how much can be taken across state borders? There is a limit on how much you can cross a provincial border with, I'm thinking it is one carton. I'll go see if I can find it. Same goes for liquor.

57 cents as of Jan 1, 2010.