 chestnut501 says: High taxes fuel criminal activity Nothin' new here. In every case of taxation, restriction, prohibition or elevated demand, someone tries to turn a profit by stealing, smuggling, or substituting bogus or knock-off goods. So, if cigarettes were outlawed only outlaws would have cigarettes. What makes cigarettes so sacrosanct anyway? Is it the free market or the tobacco lobby. The millions of addicts or what to do with them if cigs were eliminated? From pharmaceuticals to guns to pot, alcohol and illicit drugs and even abortion, imbalanced regulation, taxation and inability to enforce regulation make them all fodder for opportunists of every degree. The world of tobacco is just so full of shit. The manufacturers were/are liars and all round arse holes. Who cares if people make money illegally from a completely immoral industry? The tobacco producer is the last person likely to get rich and the most likely to finish in jail (selling a bit on the side). Wasting cops time looking for cigarette smugglers in the 21st century, tells me that our priorities are very wrong. As for the taxes, the variations would be related to the willingness of individuals from different states to take bribes. Where do you get the idea they are taking money from the industry? How does one arrive at that impression without thinking any further? By no means are taxes on products imposed on the producer (in the final tally). What you think about the industry over the years may be well -meaning, accurate, or anything else but it has nothing to do with the fact that the taxes on a product are imposed upon the consumer. Just one of the many instances proving it's a bold-faced lie to declare that 95% will have lower taxes. And doing it so arrogantly and pompously in such a dominating tone I think is really sending people over the edge. Hopefully we will still be Americans and continue standing up to this... Hey chestnut501 buddy!! It's been awhile sorry. Well here in Indiana I have been rolling my own for 9 years and the cost has been about 6.95 per carton.We got hit last week on the tax thing and now the same tobacco is 24.95. I feel raped,but I have been smoking for 49 years and it's not something I am ever going to give up. I think Big Macs should go from 3 bucks to 12.95 if we are all so concerned about health issues or give me a tax number because I am over 55 and save the kids from smoking. But just to outright rape me like this is unbelievable.Just think if potato chips were 8 dollars a bag tomorrow. Hi Swampfoxz, That's awful about your tobacco. Actually it should be criminal. The only reason they are doing it is because smokers are considered an unpopular minority and they think they can get by with it. It's really unfair. I quit smoking years ago before I really got hooked so I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm sure if Big Macs went up to 12.95 there would be a national outcry like nothing ever heard before. I don't think they are going to get rid of cigarettes completly though because the government really likes the money they make off of taxing it. Like the Big Mac idea. You could just throw the burgaz at the fan and say "shit hit the fan". "The only reason they are doing it is because smokers are considered an unpopular minority"..... Not the reason for the taxes, Chez. The health issue and its related cost to society is the reason for such targeting. I'm sympathetic to smokers, but not the industry. There is little redeeming value in an industry that has preyed upon its clients with such deceit and greed in both advertising and product development. Free enterprise allows for many potential problems but rarely is such a deleterious product allowed to persist and unbelievably have the support of government subsidization. We have a LOT of re-thinking to do if we are to survive as a culture, society or species. Richclips777, Gee whiz, you make this pretty hard on me when you connect cigarette taxes on the consumer with our survival as a culture, society or species (even). Sorry, a little extreme just for the smoke/tax issue. Let's just all hold our breath 'til the situation is resolved. |
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