backtocrappie

[backtocrappie]

You voted for it, you got it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7976225.stm

[bigE]

Dont mean to sound coarse but.......Smoking is bad for you. If you think $6 a pack is bad, ask someone who pays $125 a pack for marijuana how they feel. Seeing as how the two are probably about the same thing at the end of the day, the cigarette smokers still have it relatively easy. I quit smoking fourteen years ago when the price went over $1.50 a pack but somehow millions of people still had the money to pay.

The next thing you will see is legal marijuana in the USA and the proposed tax for it is being kicked around at $50 an ounce. An ounce will get you about 30 cigarettes or a pack and a half.....$6 a pack sounds pretty reasonable to me.

[backtocrappie]

Dont mean to sound coarse but.......Smoking is bad for you. If you think $6 a pack is bad, ask someone who pays $125 a pack for marijuana how they feel. Seeing as how the two are probably about the same thing at the end of the day, the cigarette smokers still have it relatively easy. I quit smoking fourteen years ago when the price went over $1.50 a pack but somehow millions of people still had the money to pay.

The next thing you will see is legal marijuana in the USA and the proposed tax for it is being kicked around at $50 an ounce. An ounce will get you about 30 cigarettes or a pack and a half.....$6 a pack sounds pretty reasonable to me.

I'm indifferent to smoking, it isn't a mind altering drug to begin with. Bad for you yes, but how taxing it into oblivion can't be productive in change for the better. If cigarettes cost more than beer or wine, then what will people turn to for a fix? On top of that how can the gov expect people to just pay? I see a whole new black market situation, with higher crime following it. But the most mind boggling point of all, if you tax it for money (and they did) and most people quit, then what, new taxation somewhere else? It was a stupid move that won't pay off. Like Rush says (and hes right) "No country ever taxed it's way to prosperity".

[bigE]

I really think this tax will help... Maybe I'm stupid. But if everyone quits smoking because of the taxes, then we save billions in state sponsored health care for stupid people who smoke and hurt themselves but have no way to pay for their dr. bills. I dont have statistics to back it up, but I'd be willing to bet that smoking is way more popular with poor people on welfare than with those who carry their own health insurance. 

[backtocrappie]

I think if your on state sponsored anything you shouldn't be allowed to accept benefits unless you can prove you aren't wasting MY money on YOUR habits.

What does it really do? It's revenue, pure and simple. You go spend trillions, gotta pay for it somehow, but unlike a renewable resource, this one will wear down.

[bigE]

What does it really do? It's revenue, pure and simple. You go spend trillions, gotta pay for it somehow, but unlike a renewable resource, this one will wear down.

I missed you point here.

[backtocrappie]

It's simple. If cigarettes cost so much no one buys them anymore...... then where will the money come from in the future? They could very easily added small bits of tax to dozens of other things people need and can't live without. They will kill the tobacco industry then have to move somewhere else with the same kind of tax plan. Whats next TV's like Britain?

[bigE]

So you think that if that money does not get spent on cigarettes then that money will just disappear? Poof! gone forever? The cigarette industry is on life support as it is and rightfully so. They knowingly lied to the public for many years while poisoning them and their children.

They are getting what they deserve and the vultures might finally fall off the limb and rot where they lay as far as I am concerned. If people want to smoke tobacco, grow a few plants in your yard and have at it. You dont need to trash they put into them to keep people hooked for life.

Just curious , but how many marlboro miles does it take to buy a new set of lungs anyway? Oh they just have pool sticks and ash trays huh??

[backtocrappie]

I'm not debating the moral aspect, I'm debating the long term planning behind it. It's unsound revenue, eventually it goes away, then maybe they will go after beer, and I think alcohol is responsible for far more death. However no one complains about it until it's one of their own who gets killed from it. 

IF the fed gov really cared at all, they could launch another of their campaigns against tobacco and stick to their guns on it for once. But like ElRushbo says.... the only reason it's a hot issue is because theres money in it. I don't believe for a second in life Obama cares one bit about me and my heath, or where tobacco lands me... UNLESS theres money in it for him and his pet projects that need funding. Suing the tobacco industry became trendy in the 90's, now they have figured out the taxation on it.... MONEY.

[crappie12]

Well said Backto!

[fishingpox]

It might be the long term benefit the government might get from not having to pay for medical treatment and research. I say tax the sheet out of it and help people quit smoking.

good for you Eric, I've been 15 years quiting, i'll never smoke another cigg. i'll smoke pot before i'll smoke a cigg.