The Gun Counter

I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke and don't much like other tobacco products either, but my dislike of government taxes FAR outweighs my feelings on tobacco.

They're trying to tax tobacco products out of existence here in the US, but I BET they won't have any problem with the stuff going overseas (as long as they get their tax money from that too).

Linkarooni

Smoke break gets more expensive with tax boost
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, The Associated Press

1:57 a.m. March 30, 2009

WASHINGTON — However they satisfy their nicotine cravings, tobacco users are facing a big hit as the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever takes effect Wednesday.

Tobacco companies and public health advocates, longtime foes in the nicotine battles, are trying to turn the situation to their advantage. The major cigarette makers raised prices a couple of weeks ago, partly to offset any drop in profits once the per-pack tax climbs from 39 cents to $1.01.

Medical groups see a tax increase right in the middle of a recession as a great incentive to help persuade smokers to quit.

More of this story..............

And then when their tax revenue radically drops, they'll have to raise taxes elsewhere to make up for the shortfall in revenue, because God forbid they ever reduce a government program.

Most places have already boosted their prices.

I think it's interesting that they time this tax hike to coincide with the change in withholding that is making my paycheck a bit bigger. It's about a pack and half per day difference in pay.

This makes me so mad I could spit, and yeah, I smoke. The first round of price increases a couple of weeks ago resulted in me cutting my use in half. I hope to cut back further or quit, but that's not the point (and please don't lecture me!). Smokers have become society's whipping boy, and I'm f***in' tired of it. The tax increase was to raise $30 billion in order to fund Pelosi's pet SCHIP project, giving children health insurance. The upper income limit for qualifying families is ~$68,000 IIRC, well over the median income. It's just another step to socialized medicine, and guess who's paying for it? If every smoker quit tomorrow I can guarantee you the program will continue, they'll just find somebody else to put a sin tax on. Your beer? Wine? Mayonnaise? Big Macs???

I was told yesterday by a local that the big 3 companies had all agreed to eat the taxes and not raise their prices. I have no reason to doubt him - he showed me a letter he'd received to that effect...

DD

Well, somebody's making a killing, because two weeks ago, I was paying 3.09 a pack, and this morning, I paid 5.19. I'm down to about half a pack per day, and plan on being an ex-smoker by my anniversary (May 30th). Still pisses me off, though!

I read somewhere that NYers will be paying $100 a carton once the price increases and taxes all kick in. Let's play Unintended Consequences: I foresee smuggling, black market tobacco, convenience store robberies and truck hijackings on a massive scale.

Well, if you believe the reporter, in the first post above:

The major cigarette makers raised prices a couple of weeks ago, partly to offset any drop in profits once the per-pack tax climbs from 39 cents to $1.01.

And like I already said, once they kill a revenue source by taxing it out of existence, rather than cutting the programs they were using the taxes to fund, they'd rather find something else to tax.

This pisses me off to no end, AND I'M NOT EVEN A SMOKER!!!! The bastards and bitches are using it to pay for their socialized health care FOR THE CHILDREN:

Tobacco taxes are soaring to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children. President Barack Obama signed that health initiative soon after taking office.

And I bet they haven't even considered the INCREASED health care costs because many of the older people might be living longer instead of dying of cancer and have even more expensive & chronic conditions requiring multiple surgeries, expensive drugs, etc., etc. Kinda' like what happened to California's health care costs when the motorcycle helmet law went into effect and more people were living quadriplegics and paraplegics due to spinal injuries who would have normally died from the accident (or not even hurt as bad but broke their neck due to the helmet) - all of which the people pushing the laws never like to discuss.

Everything has other, unanticipated and/or hidden costs. It's part of the laws of unintended consequences. BUT IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!!!!!

If I still smoked, I think I would consider the tax free smokes from the reservations.
West Virginia pissed their share of the settlement with the tobacco companys on public employee entitlements.
If I was going to tax a special group I would tax the government employees, maybe drive them to get a job in the private sector and contribute to the wealth of the country. I suppose that opinion may be stepping on a few toes.

Too late! In anticipation of the tax hike and lost sales, the tobacco companies have already raised THEIR prices. Cigarette prices at Navy and Marine Corps PX's have gone up $5.00 already in the last ten days or so!

I'm ordering a new supply of cigars tomorrow -- it's supposed to be a 50% increase in the price of a cigar -- which is absurd.