Cigarette Taxes are one thing but ELEVEN dollars a pack?!

reply to post by AuntC


a good and valid point. but this is the norm for ANY farmer no matter what they grow/produce. admittedly the government is making a heck of a lot more off tobacco sales. almost makes one wonder how we have let it become so that SOME people are paying so much more taxes than others, seriously talk about UNFAIR TAXATION. a burden only SOME people are stuck with just because of an unwise choice they made, normally while still a kid, yet the punishment continues till they can quit or die.

you know it wouldn't be so bad if all that "tax" money went to pay for people to STOP smoking. free quitting help of all varieties that are out there, (wouldn't really be free since smokers pay for it with every smoke they buy). but no that won't happen. as much as every government crows about it happening to make people quit and to pay extra health costs that they claim is caused by smoking, the reality is that it is a nice cash cow for them. one reason they like doing it with something like cigarettes is that they KNOW dammed well how hard it is to quit for most people. thus insuring that that tax base will continue to be there. and well for those that actually quit there are always more taking up the habit. so while they like to SAY it is done to get people to quit the REALITY is that they DON'T want that tax base to disappear otherwise when they first started that taxation they would have been spending that money on things that actually might HELP people to quit.

another thing that strikes me is that at the same time they go on about health care costs because of smoking, that they go out of their way to INSURE extra heath costs for smokers. this has been done by forcing those who smoke to do so out in the cold. rules like no smoking in the workplace (even if it is the vehicle you use and no one else use or rides in), they could have instead insisted on workplaces having specially sealed/vented smoking areas INSIDE. or even "smoker shack" outside so that you could at least stay out of the wind. rain and snow. as it stands now around Toronto not only can you not smoke at all inside the workplace, they even PROHIBIT having an outdoor structure that has more than a roof and TWO walls, and it has to be really small. in other words they have INSURED that there is minimal protection from rain and snow, an NO PROTECTION AT ALL from wind. this tends to cause those that smoke (and are apparently more prone to being sick) to become sick on a more regular basis and even more prone to things like bronchitis and pneumonia. thus actually INCREASING the healthcare costs for a smoker. another side effect that happens is that those with cars will smoke in their vehicle, this causes MORE POLLUTION as many will idle they vehicle to provide heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. i know i used to sit in my truck (i was too cheap to run it much myself) and watch over 20 people at a time running their vehicles for 15 minutes for 15 minute breaks and even for a whole hour while on lunch. yet again those "taxes" smokes pay could pay for POPPER heated/airconed even well ventilated structures that would help with this if they REALLY were concerned about "healthcare costs". but no they have far too many OTHER USES for that money that has nothing at all to do with smoking and smoking related issues.

no those cigarette taxes have nothing at all to do with what they claim, it is just a way to glean more and more money off those who are slaves to their addiction.

It looks like health care has gone up under Obamacare and now they are looking around for ways to pay for it, so they just penalize people who smoke because they know that the millions of people who are addicted to nicotine will pay for their habit.
They have to hide the real problem, which is Obamacare and the Fed printing more money causing inflation. How long are they going to play footsey by overtaxing consumers?

reply to post by toochaos4u


It is still socialist anyway, making all smokers pay for what happens to some. This is always the answer to Socialist Utopians. This is their idea of fairness. People who are not smoking get cancer, so they are making smokers pay into the system to take care of people who don't smoke.

I should charge $1000 per pack because smokers congregate in my workplace blowing smoke in my face all day long being inconsiderate as h3LL. It is not their God given right to subject me to second hand smoke and inflaming my allergies, But oh no, my employer gets special privilege to let smokers smoke themselves to high hell, er..., silly, and don't care at all about their employees and other non-smokers.

Anyone who thinks cigarette taxes are there to pay for treatment is deluded. In the same way that fuel tax isn't about protecting the environment or alcohol tax isn't about protecting the livers of would be drinkers.

Just imagine what it would do to government if everyone decided not to buy cigarettes, booze or fuel for one month. These taxes are such big earners that the machinery of the state would grind to a halt without them.

here is an example of what artificially high cigarette prices due to "sin taxes" leads to.

Toronto police are looking for a gang of youths who swarmed a variety store owner and stole packs of cigarettes during a violent robbery late Friday night. Police say up to eight youths entered the store, near Eglinton Avenue East and Midland Avenue, and three or four of them ganged up on the store owner. The 58-year-old man was assaulted and pepper sprayed before the suspects stole bags of smokes and fled. Read more: www.cp24.com...

you will notice they apparently ONLY stole CIGARETTES, not the CASH. this is NOT an Isolated incident, it has been going on for years. being high priced gives lots of incentive for theft. i know one variety store i used to live by had been an old bank, they used to store most of their tobacco products IN THE SAFE, due to the high incidents of cigarette theft especially after hours break ins. stolen cigarettes are PROFITABLE and can be easily sold with little chance of finding the "stolen merchandise". all because of being artificially high priced. they are small, light, almost untraceable, and worth a lot of cash, the perfect thing to steal.

guess that money for "cigarette related health care" is needed due to things like this.

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Well let's think about it: If they tax people out of smoking cigarettes maybe they will replace the tax revenues with increasing the taxes on junk foods and drinks. Oh wait, they are already climbing into THAT boat! In that case, I would think they will go after alcohol next. Plenty more people drink alcohol than smoke cigarettes so they are bound to make a fortune. Get ready for a $10 tax on every six pack!

Most of Europe has high taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.Nothing bad in it...

It's probably not going to make much difference. In order to curb the use of Tobacco, at one point the Turks threatened to behead anyone caught smoking it, but it still continued and proliferated there and around the world. I think the real reason they want tobacco out of the hands of the middle class is because it's psychotropic, but ATS is pretty retentive when it comes to discussing psycho-anything so you won't learn much about that here.

Originally posted by Cabin

Most of Europe has high taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.Nothing bad in it...

....and we already pay very high taxes on both as well! At what point does it stop? When the taxes for a product are 5 times the actual cost? 10 times?