New increase of $2.00 Tax on ONE Pack of Cigs? - Taxes on Chips, Sodas and Alcohol - Congress Consid

This is the biggest bull# i ever seen . My pack of cigs was like 3.25 it went up to 3.75 then to 4.50 , then to 4.75-5 depending on where u buy it and now ima have to pay 7? ..what the hell.

As we beg for more support from the government they must collect money somewhere. If we want less government we should stop using their services.

We'll all be chewing celery, drinking water, riding the bus to our commune sometime in the near future. Enjoy your fruits of your vote

you have every right to complain it's called free speech. enjoy it because you'll be paying more and more on smokes and drinks. and i'd hope and expect if MJ gets legalized it will be expesive for those who want to treat their brains to that.

you can't have social order without taxes. even communes tax you in a way because you have to provide your time to work for the commune in exchange for other things. you want firefighters and parks and roads? well taxes are the way unless you want to volunteer 8 hours or more per work day to contribute...

smoking isn't even a life necessity and it's proven that it contributes to lung cancer especially if you got the genetic predisposition for that. if you're too lazy to grow it yourself you have to pay the price for it.

of course i'm not a smoker so i'm OK with taxing the heck out of these things. as long as they don't make basic life necessities impossible to get with a reasonable cost i'm OK with paying all direct & indirect taxes.

Just another item to add fuel to the fire. If anyone has the idea that they can circumvent the tax by growing (tobacco), brewing (alcohol) or making (soda), etc...you may be taken by surprise.

At least in PA, if you grow your own tobacco for your own use...you still owe the state $13.50 per carton. While I haven't looked into the other tax candidates...I would expect the same type of tax exists. Or will soon.

Now, sure...it wouldn't be easy for them to find out...but it would still be illegal to not pay the tax.

now come on, look at this. Soda, Alcohol, and Cigarettes are all HORRIBLE for you, its about time they cracked down on it.

Well you forgot something, what about the sun? Do we tax God for all the skin cancer?

Timewalker you are correct, Boycott. But guess what, it won’t even matter, because at the rate this country is going, all that will happen is more job losses if they make prices outrages on luxuries. That is what they are, luxuries. Only the rich and privileged will be able to afford the items.

Everyday the gap widens between the rich and poor in this country. Pretty soon we will see more requests to feed the staving in America, if war doesn’t come first.

At the same time, people are living longer. Retirement systems are failing. Living longer is that what we really want? Or, is that what you just really want? Or, is that just what the government is saying to justify the increase. We all know the risk factors. The world is over populated as we know. Healthcare is not even affordable for middle class. So is living longer what they really want? I say, hell no. They just want us to fill the coffers of the mistakes they have made with out of control spending. There are nuclear bombs.
Don't tell me some one is concerned about my health and welfare.

I'm not a smoker, but this really gets to me. I bet they will raise some form of tax shortly just to take a dump in your own house. (In the toilet that is, not literally INSIDE your house).

Ha ha that's a good one!

They just want to piss everyone off enough to see if they can get us to riot, so they can bring out martial law on us.

If they really wanted to do something about healthcare costs then they should go after fast food chains that offer triple stack cheese burgers and other high fat foods.

reply to post by Bombeni


You are wrong.

I live on an Indian reservation.
Cigs are $2.80 on the res and $6+ just off the res.
Don't know where you got your info but its dead wrong.
Please don't talk out of your ass when you have no idea what you are talking about.

Good maybe people will stop buying that crap. This is coming from a man who loves his soda and potato chips!!!

We have reached Peak Oil. Economic recovery means that they will not be able to hide it anymore. Oil prices going to 200$ a barrel. Possible chaos following. "They" do not want that. They want their privileged position to last. So they will keep undermining the economy.

I hope this is a reputable enough source :
blogs.wsj.com...

Dust off those survivalist manuals and brush up on your dystopias: Peak oil is back.

Global production of petroleum peaked in the first quarter of last year, says analysts Raymond James, which “represents a paradigm shift of historic proportions. Unfortunately, mankind better get ready to live in a peak oil world because we believe the ‘peak’ is now behind us.”

Raymond James’s notes that non-OPEC oil production apparently peaked in the first quarter of 2007, and given precipitous falls in oil output from Russia to Mexico, there’s not much hope for a recovery. OPEC production—and thus global output—peaked a little later, in the first quarter of 2008, Raymond James says.

The contention rests on a simple argument: OPEC oil production actually fell even as oil prices were above $100 a barrel, a sign of the “tyranny of geology” that limits the easy production of ever-more crude.

So the event that was predicted for 2020 (the earliest possible) happened already. And the solutions are not here. Or maybe the "free electricity" is kept hidden somewhere. With the same idea of control over people.



[edit on 14-5-2009 by pai mei]

Originally posted by Estharik
This is getting ridiculous. I smoked cigars like black and mild while I was at work before the tax hike, but I stopped when the packs shot up in price. I can only imagine what they will charge now. I don't drink soft drinks unless there's nothing else... so personally it won't affect me much. Alcohol on the other hand, will be a problem. Time to make myself a still I suppose.

I agree with the OP though, especially with taxing the oil companies. You want to see what excess money does to you... I'll have to find the picture. I saw it on drudgereport a long time ago.. a picture of the head of exxon. They should tax him for each of his chins

edit: found it

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2dad49276a77.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 13-5-2009 by Estharik]

With all that money, this fat piece of cow dung can't even fix his teeth or tuck his chins? What is this world coming do when the rich, gluttonous SOBs with all the money won't even make themselves look presentable enough for us poor ignoramuses to gawk at? Someone give this slob a belly rub and an enema. Oy vey.

The cigarette tax pisses me off because I'm a smoker, and because our government loves to put the latex glove on, one finger forward, and give us the 'ol Heave-Ho! Fortunately, I had already committed to quitting as of June 1st, but I know it doesn't always work out as planned. Write your congressman and ask them to use more lube in the future.

[edit on 5/14/2009 by pjslug]

I will try to make this short and sweet.
1. A porn tax would be a good idea. Smut is a good, reliable source of tax revenue that will never cease.
2. Why not legalize marijuana? California probably will. Good source of tax revenue also. Don't tax it too much, though, or potheads might start cutting back.
3. People will not riot over raising cigarette, alcohol or taxing junk food like soda pop. Americans are too lazy and complacent to do that.
4. We should not have to pay high taxes when the government, city and state ones anyway, do not even provide basic services with money we already regularly give them.
5. The government is not accountable to the American people, so don't expect them to justify their wastefulness to you, or anybody else.
6. Online and mail order businesses do NOT want to deal with figuring out how much taxes to collect and send to each state!
The government gets enough money already. It needs to STOP WASTING IT!

Originally posted by Bombeni

Who decides what the sin products are?.... I CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.

Just be thankful you are not ostracised and cast into prison for your choice in what you put into your own body.

Let alone having to pay thrice the cost you pay for 1/4 the amount.

But then, if tobacco becomes illegal, it will be taboo on ATS.

We, however, have been considered taboo and ostracised for an eternity. Having to put up with ridiculous propaganda, treated by society like criminals.

$2 a pack.

Oh goodness. 1 less cup of coffee at work...

At least my vice has the quality of proven medicinal benefits.

reply to post by questioningall


Governments will take whatever they can from the powerless because they can. An economics lecturer told our MBA class (years ago) that it is a well known and proven fact that people will continue to imbibe regardless of the taxes. Look at the Swedes for example, whose alcohol taxes have been prohibitive for years...they still like a drink.

We are in effect just indentured servants to the PTB and it is the sensing of this by people which leads them to seek comfort in these types of products.

Perhaps the government agencies are wanting more people to turn to the product exported from Afghanistan which will pay even better than the taxes they will collect from the legal products.

As far as I'm concerned we need to do away with governments altogether as the types it attracts these days no longer act for the good of their country or people, but for a vision of their own power over others and what they can get by positioning themselves as part of the soon to be realised single global fascist dictatorship. These people should not be on the streets let alone ruling over nations. We definitely need a new form of leadership in most countries of the world.

All I've got to add the the conversation is this: if you don't like what your elected officials are doing, vote in somebody else. And not just someone from the same two political parties, elect some independents, Ron Paul, an outsider, anybody. They can do no worse. Let your elected reps know that if they bring in this new tax they will no longer have a public job, and FOLLOW THROUGH.

And yet at election time it's always the same old story.

First off, no US "citizen" (so called) working and living in this country is obligated to pay income tax. There is something like 80 million people who have stopped paying. The IRS was set up to collect money for the Federal Reserve / International Monetary Fund. There are no, absolutely no, statues or regulations that apply to a person as described above. It looks like the fed is paving the way for the gradual abolishing the IRS as a means of taxation. The correct approach is to increase foreign tariffs. However, taxing usage is the other way. It is debatable whether the fed really has the right to slap taxes on products however. Really the fed should be sending a bill directly to the states for it's percent of expenditures. Not sure I really believe the constitution justifies direct taxation on good. (don't remember and I'm not going to look it up now)

Secondly - taxation on good is generally taxation of garbage people should do without. Soft drinks, chips and candy aren't healthy anyway. I would hope people will stop buying poison laced products and go back to making their own food.

reply to post by tristar


Taiwan - ~$1.50 usd/pak (or 50 twd)

It be interesting to see the Cancer rate data for both countries.


[edit on 14/5/09 by ConspiracyNut23]