the tax on cigarettes has gone up faster then taxes on any other consumable product that has ever been produced in the united states, in which the government both state and federal have deemed detrimental to the heath of its citizens. why not alcohol, it has been responsible for killing thousands, destroying families, hurting society as a whole and many other social problems. millions of taxpayes money has gone into treatment and programs for alcoholics and lets not forget the amount of taxpayers money are spent by police departments, courts, jails, prison the list goes on and on. where is the outcry. has any real real solid scientific research by using double blind research experiments been conducted to prove their assertions about cigarettes. i.e. providing a placebo to one group and not the other (they could use people who smoke for the other group) over an extended period of time, to see what the effects of second hand smoke really does to non smokers and what environment is most likely to create these adverse effects. if your answer is yes, to the double blind research or any reasearch project, please state the name of that research project and when it was done.. dont bash me, i am a reformed smoker who spent 1500 dollars and it took me five years to quit. its hard for some easy for others. do you think the government has taxed cigarettes to the point of creating a black market for them. some stores are charging seven dollars a pack in some states who have steadly singled out one segmenmt of society to tax (on the pretext of using that money to help treat smoking related illnesses), in order to help balance their budget or have to keep increasing the tax to matain there tax base because people are going to states who have no sales tax on cigarettes, have quit or an exhisting black market. i would also like to know, has theft of bulk cigarette shipments on the increase. of course the government may. not want us to know this.
why do you think taxes on cigarettes keeping up?
the tax on cigarettes has gone up faster then taxes on any other consumable product that has ever been produced in the united states, in which the government both state and federal have deemed detrimental to the heath of its citizens. why not alcohol, it has been responsible for killing thousands, destroying families, hurting society as a whole and many other social problems. millions of taxpayes money has gone into treatment and programs for alcoholics and lets not forget the amount of taxpayers money are spent by police departments, courts, jails, prison the list goes on and on. where is the outcry. has any real real solid scientific research by using double blind research experiments been conducted to prove their assertions about cigarettes. i.e. providing a placebo to one group and not the other (they could use people who smoke for the other group) over an extended period of time, to see what the effects of second hand smoke really does to non smokers and what environment is most likely to create these adverse effects. if your answer is yes, to the double blind research or any reasearch project, please state the name of that research project and when it was done.. dont bash me, i am a reformed smoker who spent 1500 dollars and it took me five years to quit. its hard for some easy for others. do you think the government has taxed cigarettes to the point of creating a black market for them. some stores are charging seven dollars a pack in some states who have steadly singled out one segmenmt of society to tax (on the pretext of using that money to help treat smoking related illnesses), in order to help balance their budget or have to keep increasing the tax to matain there tax base because people are going to states who have no sales tax on cigarettes, have quit or an exhisting black market. i would also like to know, has theft of bulk cigarette shipments on the increase. of course the government may. not want us to know this.
That is one of the main reasons why I quit. For a second time in my life. I had quit smoking in 1986, for some reason, one of them being bronchial Asthma, which was much better when I quit.
Then in 2005, I started smoking again for one reason or another, this time around I smoke way more than I previously had along with smoking cigars mixed in with it.
Then I decided last October to quit smoking again one of the reasons was the price involved, and it seemed like they were raising the price of them monthly. I even made a trip across the Kentucky state line or the Georgia state line where they were cheaper.
However, this time it was much harder to quit, because the tobacco companies had added chemicals to make them more addictive, while the state and federal government kept adding taxes to each purchase.
Anyway, going cold turkey, I quit the beginning of October 2008, and haven’t had one since. However, in Walmart yesterday I saw that the price per pack of Marlboro was $5.02 a pack, congratulations federal government, you have finally hit your goal of charging in excess of $5.00 a pack.
All this price gouging is going to do is increase the theft and hijacking of cigarettes.
There was even a dust-up over people buying their cigarettes over the Internet and avoiding their state’s taxes on cigarettes and tobacco.
That is why you see in prisons and jails where smoking has been outlawed, there is an even bigger market for illegal tobacco, while drugs run a second, correctional staffs feel that they will only be written up or suspended for smuggling tobacco inside an institution, where they face years in prison for smuggling tobacco.
Most of the market on smuggled tobacco is still being run by organized crime, who has the ability to not only transport the tobacco, but have ways around the mandatory state stamps that are on each and every pack of cigarettes.
As for the lawsuits over big tobacco, little of that money was every seen by the smokers who had sued, while the attorneys saw the lion share of that money. The mandatory health care for smokers was an even bigger crock of Sh**.
(They say that every cigarette that you smoke takes 11 minutes off your life), that means that 6 cigarettes takes an hour off of your life. Quit, smoking and the government will have to find something else to tax, to make up the money they loose through tobacco.
85% of the deaths from lung cancer can be attributed to cigarette smoking.
Because you shouldn’t be smoking smart one? we need a nation of healthy people. they should tax fast food more too. get in line.
They tax them because its easy….that simple
Tax is going up on Cigs because the amount of cigs being bought is dropping, for real dude. We use the revenue (Tax) for many State projects and we have counted on the tax revenue for these projects.
Now with use in decline so is tax revenue… Really.
So , raise the tax to $10 bucks a pack I say. We can still smoke( I do not) and no one can complain if pot become legal with the same tax( Again, I do not smoke.) . Tax on Booze is high, Tax on all fun stuff is high .
Probably 99% of our government representatives drink. They don’t smoke because it has become socially unacceptable while drinking remains socially acceptable.
They tax cigarettes to pay for SChip and other programs both state and federal. I’m sure you are right. It will be a black market just like during prohibition where the black market stills were common. On the other hand, the tobacco companies have invented the electronic cigarette. Other people will just start chewing.
Because they can get away with it. There is NO sympathy for smokers and we are an easy target. what would happen if they doubled the tax on brandy or Scotch!?