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Obama's First Tax Hike Takes Effect
Today the federal cigarette tax rose from 39 cents to $1 a pack. This is the first tax hike signed by President Obama, and it breaks his promise not to raise taxes on people of modest means. In fact, it's pretty much the most regressive way Congress could have picked to fund an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Still, the federal tax pales in comparison to the cigarette levies imposed by many states. The highest right now is New York's, which is $2.75 a pack, on top of which Big Apple residents pay a $1.50 city tax, for a total of $5.25 in federal, state, and city taxes, plus the 8.4 percent sales tax, all of which pushes the retail price to $9 or $10. Since taking money from an unpopular minority is a lot easier than imposing a broad tax hike or cutting spending, many states are likely to raise their cigarette taxes this year.
|4.1.09 @ 7:26PM|#
Well, this will be a game changer!At ten bucks for a pack of
cigarettes the Mexican cartels will abandon coke and wacky weed -
why bother when tobacco will pay just as well? Nickel bag with a
nice shiny box and cellophane wrapping...
Soon , all the illegal immigrants will have to do is tuck a carton
of smokes under each arm, and it's "endenidos a los Estados Unidos,
compadre..." The coyotes won't need to cut holes in the Great
Border Fence. Desperate US smokers will do it for them.
|4.1.09 @ 7:31PM|#
In fact, it's pretty much the most regressive way
Congress could have picked to fund an expansion of the State's
Children Health Insurance Program.
The levies on imported cigars are much, much worse:
"Under SCHIP, large cigars will be taxed at 52.75 percent, with a
cap of 40.26 cents per cigar. This enormous increase, up from the
previous rate of 20.719 percent with a cap of 4.875 cents per
cigar, has many worried that it will devastate an industry already
under siege due to state tax hikes and smoking bans.
...the SCHIP tax increase had the potential to devastate not only
cigar retailers, manufacturers, and consumers, but could also lead
to widespread unemployment and crime in the Dominican Republic,
Honduras, and Nicaragua-the three main sources of premium handmade
cigars...taxes, even more so than smoking bans, could devastate
retailers since cigars are a "non-addictive luxury item," which
smokers could easily cut back on in response to higher
prices."
From
http://www.stogieguys.com/2009/04/04012009-stogie-news-massive-cigar-tax-hits.html
|4.1.09 @ 7:34PM|#
Soon , all the illegal immigrants will have to do is
tuck a carton of smokes under each arm, and it's "Bienvenidos a los
Estados Unidos, compadres..."
Back in the old days of Mexican Protectionism (the 80s), Americans
used to FLY small cargo planes loaded with TVs and other stuff from
the US to Mexico, because of the difficulty for Mexicans to buy
foreign goods. Seems like now the roles will be reversed.
I will be looking at the paper for a cheap, used Cessna... or a
Piper... Hmmm.
Suki|4.1.09 @ 8:19PM|#
A friend in VA told me a bit ago today that he paid almost
$5.00/pack in a DoD facility today.
Dreading when this carton in my freezer runs out.
|4.1.09 @ 8:26PM|#
No No NO NO
This was NOT a tax increase.
The Bush administration had infected all the computers with a virus
that launched a secret, stealth program thingie that raised the
cigarette tax to $5 per pack effective today.
We were able to REDUCE the tax by 80% through our strenous
efforts.
We had to retain that Bush tax increase at $1 because, ah,
ah.
Its for the children!
Yeah, that its it -- heathcare for children
Its not a tax, its a sacrifice
Kolohe|4.1.09 @ 8:31PM|#
@ FTG's first post.
There is some evidence that while higher taxes lead to an overall
lower market size, they also cause some to still are in the market
to substitute more 'premium' goods - because the cost of upgrading
is less on a % basis.
This is why Philip Morris generally likes tobacco taxes and why
their stock continues to do rather well - it increases their market
share as generic mass competitors become less attractive even if
slightly cheaper. (it's also why it's more common for builders to
make 'luxury condos'. Or why car makers only make money on
SUV's)
HaroldBeaver|4.1.09 @ 8:46PM|#
The illegals are already bringing it up with them in California. You can get Mexcian Marlboros and Newports for about $22 a carton if you know where to look (try downtown LA). But they aren't the same quality I hear. Better than counterfeit though.
|4.1.09 @ 8:48PM|#
You can now buy a carton online for less than 2 packs in NY
(http://www.cigoutlet.net/cigarettes/marlboro-cigarettes.html)
It gets even more regressive when you see that those with brains
and computers can get their Marlboro lights at $1.40/pack
online.
Xeones|4.1.09 @ 8:49PM|#
Anybody know how difficult it is to grow tobacco in small batches, or if it's even feasible? I'm about to start baccoleggin' up in here.
Suki|4.1.09 @ 8:54PM|#
Anybody know how difficult it is to grow tobacco in small
batches, or if it's even feasible? I'm about to start baccoleggin'
up in here.
Not sure about growing small batches but I hear curing and all of
the things one must do to make it what we are used to buying is
difficult.
|4.1.09 @ 8:58PM|#
Florida wants to raise the state tax on cigs too. It's to pay
Medicaid for smoking related illnesses.
Wait, wasn't was what the lawsuit was for?
smartass sob|4.1.09 @ 9:45PM|#
Florida wants to raise the state tax on cigs too. It's to
pay Medicaid for smoking related illnesses.
Wait, wasn't was what the lawsuit was for?
No, Isaac, the lawsuit was for the sake of the legal profession and
for the sake of the legislators who receive campaign contributions
from the legal profession.
hmm|4.1.09 @ 9:55PM|#
I'd bet my next paycheck he still smokes.
Curing tobacco isn't rocket science. Wood box tall enough to hang
tobacco and allow an electric heater and humidifier in the bottom.
All you are doing is sweating out the flavors and aromas you do not
want. Growing it is about as hard as planting seeds in a fertile
soil and watering.
Hugh|4.1.09 @ 9:57PM|#
Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and a sedentary
lifestyle, accounts for 90% to 95% of cases. In 2005, $15 billion
was spent on prescriptions and $10 billion was spent on doctor
visits.
While politicians are legislating morality, why stop at
cigarettes?
Why not whack junk food with a ginormous tax?
Hell, why not just tax every vice we have?
Where does the madness end?
And we call ourselves a free society? It's laughable.
K.T.|4.1.09 @ 10:04PM|#
Not that I want to tax alcohol anymore than it already is, but
I've thoroughly enjoyed pulling out this gem of a study, from JAMA,
to all my drinking friends who criticize smokers... I'd be curious
to see it updated. My guess is it would be even more true than it
was then, given the decline in smoking rates and increase in
tobacco taxes. Although, at the same time, more smokers/former
smokers are on Medicare now so who knows.
Taxes
of Sin
|4.1.09 @ 10:15PM|#
Hello, smuggling.
I'm guessing the geniuses in the congress haven't thought this
through.
-jcr
|4.1.09 @ 10:45PM|#
Let the republicans go after some other country and stop terrorizing the USA with their continuous BS of policies that got us here in the first place...
SIV|4.1.09 @ 10:51PM|#
Growing it is about as hard as planting seeds in a fertile
soil and watering.
I can tell you've never grown tobacco.
|4.1.09 @ 10:52PM|#
I would be a very happy American to see the republican party die
in its tracks , Which is highly to happen do to the millions who
have had a stomach full of Bush and republican congress
from 1994 to 2006. There payoff to wall street disguised as a
bailout and a mountain of lies from Paulson & Bush
|4.1.09 @ 11:07PM|#
Hey larry, the thread you're looking for is back there in the archives...somewhere around January 21st.
Elemenope|4.1.09 @ 11:35PM|#
Your right to swing your smoke...ends where my nose begins.
Sorry.
Which when pushed to its logical conclusion, reads:
"Your right to exist ends where my awareness of you existing
begins."
The whole "nose/fist" rhetoric is not portable to merely annoying
situations. Hell is other people, fucking get over it. You will not
get lung cancer from occasionally having to sniff the crap the
comes off other people's cigarettes.
Some situations are slightly different; I feel for waitresses in
smoke-clogged bars. Their exposure dose is somewhere above
"annoying occasional whiff of something I don't like". But the war
on smoking is justified on far thinner grounds, like this whole
"why should I have to smell what you are smoking" crap.
Rhywun|4.2.09 @ 1:02AM|#
> You can now buy a carton online for less than 2 packs in
NY
The last time I bought cigarettes online that criminal Eliot
Spitzer had a policy in place for the post office to steal them.
Maybe I'll try this outfit once, and see if it works.
|4.2.09 @ 1:13AM|#
Personally, I couldn't care less. No one makes you buy cigs. You
don't need them to stay alive.
Grow up, already. I've never seen so many children disguised as
adults.
Elemenope|4.2.09 @ 2:10AM|#
Chup -- what activity do you like? How would you feel if society at large decided to tax the shit out of it because they didn't like it?
ellipsis|4.2.09 @ 2:20AM|#
I just saw on the 11pm news that Oregon is considering raising the age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21. Considering Portland makes up almost half the State population, what could possibly go wrong? (For those not in the area, google map Portland.)
Brett Stevens|4.2.09 @ 2:53AM|#
Smoke your cigs outside. Doesn't need to be a law, just civility. Bars are an exception.
Geoff Nathan|4.2.09 @ 6:02AM|#
If you want to read a really disgusting rant about this tax,
read Roland Martin's article on the front of the CNN website.
Basically, he hates smoking, it's BAD!!!!, so it's OK, even if it's
disproportionately directed to low income folks--apparently they
need special protection against themselves.
Good thing he doesn't dislike Jews or Blacks.
Jolene|4.2.09 @ 6:29AM|#
People at work think its fair because they don't smoke and its for the children. They'd be complaining if it was a commodity they used daily and the price doubled over night, children or not.
High Every Body|4.2.09 @ 8:11AM|#
Smoke your cigs outside. Doesn't need to be a law, just
civility. Bars are an exception.
If it is my bar then it should be my rules, no
exeptions.
|4.2.09 @ 8:30AM|#
I'm not a legal mind, but how do these taxes differ from a legislative body meting out punishment? I thought that was unconstitutional (not that that matters anymore).
ed|4.2.09 @ 8:30AM|#
I've never seen so many children disguised as
adults.
You've never watched C-Span, then.
|4.2.09 @ 9:28AM|#
Why not whack junk food with a ginormous tax?
Or red meat? I wonder how the insufferable
Roland Martin would feel about a 100% tax on the juicy steak he
wants to enjoy sans cigarette smoke.
Also, Martin seems to be saying that higher cigarette taxes will
equal less smoking in public places. I'm not sure, exactly, how
that's supposed to work.
|4.2.09 @ 9:58AM|#
I see an income opportunity.
Be very careful. Organized crime is already big into tobacco
smuggling and tax stamp forgery. They don't like competition.
The tobacco plant, BTW, isn't hard to grow. It takes good soil and
a ton of fertilizer.
Good smoking tobacco? There's a real art to it - very labor
intensive. Stripping leaves, curing, the whole thing. If you get
something you can stand to smoke, be careful - the nicotine load
will knock your socks off the first time you try it.
|4.2.09 @ 10:49AM|#
Personally, I couldn't care less. No one makes you buy cigs.
You don't need them to stay alive.
Grow up, already. I've never seen so many children disguised as
adults.
Give me ten minutes in your house and I can find tens of thousands
in tax revenue using that criteria.
Don't try out for the Junior High debating squad, you'll get your
stupid ass handed to you by a bright 13 year old.
IOW, you are a not very bright judgemental asswipe.
|4.2.09 @ 11:05AM|#
I don't understand why the government is doing this at the same
time as making it tougher to smoke.
The government *SHOULD* be allowing people to smoke in malls, in
(the smoking areas of) restaurants, in movies, and pretty much
wherever.
And *THEN* charging for the smokes.
None of this "only bad people do this thing that brings in
money".
It's like no one up there has any idea what they're doing.
|4.2.09 @ 11:17AM|#
Smoke your cigs outside. Doesn't need to be a law, just
civility
Of course, civility applies to everyone in civil society, and would
also militate against wetting your panties every time someone
lights up indoors.
Tolerance that doesn't go both ways is intolerance.
Billy Beck|4.2.09 @ 12:07PM|#
Up here in the weeds and farmlands of the Finger Lakes in The
Vampire State, a pack of cigarettes is now over eight dollars.
This, in the middle of a functional depression years long
now.
If the animals in Washington and Albany understood the anger over
this, they would lock themselves in the cellar.
|4.2.09 @ 12:52PM|#
lol. It seems to me that you people complain about taxes regressive, progessive, or extant. A pretty hollow complaint. Are there any taxes that would make you happy?
|4.2.09 @ 1:22PM|#
Are there any taxes that would make you happy?
A stupidity tax. You'd be in an extremely high bracket.
dfd|4.2.09 @ 1:47PM|#
Nice thing about comments that start with "lol" is that you
don't even have to read them to know they are not going to be the
most insightful comments in the thread.
Come on Ray, you can do better. Try reading again and maybe you'll
notice there are a variety of very non-"hollow" reasons to object
to this kind of tax discussed above. If you can't bring yourself to
actually engage them on a little more substantive level, fine, but
your "hollow complaint" line seems rather unintentionaly
ironic.
--|4.2.09 @ 2:28PM|#
"Are Indian 'nations' still exempt from the tax?"
My understanding is that since it's a federal tax it applies to the
reservations as well.
|4.2.09 @ 6:00PM|#
You lucky cunts
I pay 2 euros 45 a pack in tax
and I don't get socialized health care because I'm a
foreigner
I've always intended to quit smoking
but just cus the government wants me to quit
I really feel like I shouldn't
if I don't quit I have to give the cunts a sizable chunk of my
salary
Smokin lots of sensi is probably the only sensible solution to the
problem but my head is far to fragile to be permanently twated
nowerdays
Fucked if you do fucked if do don't
Its just a plant why do they get to control it?
ahh man whiskey time
more tax
grrr
grumble grumble
|4.2.09 @ 6:16PM|#
Smoke your cigs outside. Doesn't need to be a law, just
civility. Bars are an exception.
Did I miss something? Does this have anything at all to do with
Osama the financial terrorist raising taxes on the poor? It is good
advice, and that is something I always appreciate, but I'm not
seeing any sort of connection to the subject at hand or anyone
else's post...not that I don't throw out some random BS on that
rare occasion. Wait a minute...you're not selling anonymity
software, are you?
Medic|4.2.09 @ 6:27PM|#
Monkee-smoke weed its cheaper and FAR BETTER for you.
infact...
get an atomizer instead.
smoking the burned leaves of ANYTHING isn't good.
Ben|4.3.09 @ 10:15AM|#
> It breaks his promise not to raise
> taxes on people of modest means
No. "People of modest means" have the option to smoke, or not. If
they choose not to smoke, the IRS won't come to their door and take
this tax from them; that's because it isn't an actual tax on people
of any particular means.
It's a tax on cigarettes.
This is just like a tax on cheeseburgers - at any level: carcass,
slaughter, distribution, manufacture, preparation - If you don't
like the tax, stop eating cheeseburgers. You can opt right
out.
What you're doing here is simply whining because your favorite form
of self-abuse has become more expensive.
Find a substitute. For instance, some gum. There are side benefits,
too: it's far less expensive as a habit, your breath won't smell
like a cat took a dump in your mouth, your hair and clothes won't
smell like a bus stop, your teeth will be easier to keep some
semblance of white, and your cancer risk will drop like a stone
after a few years of your body repairing the idiocy you've
subjected it to. If, of course, it isn't already too late.
Or, you can man up, admit that what you're doing has a cost to
society as presently constituted, and save your complaints for
actual taxes on people. Not products, dangerous or otherwise.
Ben|4.3.09 @ 10:26AM|#
> Your right to swing your smoke...
> ends where my nose begins. Sorry.
> Which when pushed to its
> logical conclusion, reads:
> "Your right to exist ends where my
> awareness of you existing begins."
Actually, the correct formulation is:
"Your right to swing your smoke ends where another's respiratory
system begins."
The presumption that the smell of smoke is the serious end of the
problem assumes facts not in evidence. Though of course, it does
smell terrible.
The actual problem is the veritable Smörgåsbord of harmful
substances in cigarette smoke, not all of which, unfortunately, are
absorbed by the person who chooses to smoke.
From www.cancer.org:
"Secondhand smoke contains over 4000 substances, more than 60 of
which are known or suspected to cause cancer."
You *do* know what the traditional libertarian response to a
personal assault is, don't you?
|4.3.09 @ 4:37PM|#
Smoking-related healthcare costs in US for 2007 + estimated
productivity losses from smoking in US for 2007 = $167 billion
(CDC)
Expected total of the cost of the auto bailout = $130 billion
(WSJ)
Need we worry more about funding healthcare for kids with a tax on
cigarettes?
For added amusement watch Joe Scarborough make a total ass of
himself (more so than usual) comparing a cigarette tax to a tax on
puppies in this newsy story
http://www.newsy.com/videos/paying_more_to_light_up/
Enough is Too Much|4.4.09 @ 11:33AM|#
This is just like a tax on cheeseburgers -
No, this is not just a tax. Smokers already pay more than their
fair share for treating diseases that both smokers and non-smokers
get. It is simply extortion. Just live your life the way we've
decided for you and we won't rob you.
Intolerance of liberty is un-American, whether you agree with that
liberty or not. This is the basis for your own freedom.
Now, I could waste my time explaining that to you and shredding all
your facile arguments, but you Smoke Nazis are hardly worth the
effort.
You ought to be more careful about what you wish for.....
Ben|4.8.09 @ 6:38PM|#
Smokers already pay more than their fair share for treating diseases that both smokers and non-smokers get
That is utter nonsense. You and your supplier's "fair share" is
*all* of smoking related discomfort; ALL of smoking related
education; ALL of smoking related research; ALL of smoking related
care. Why should *anyone* else pay *anything* because you're being
an idiot?
Now, I could waste my time explaining that to you and shredding all your facile arguments
You haven't "shredded" anything. You've got a filthy, antisocial,
unhealthy practice you think you ought to be able to pursue
anywhere, anytime, no matter the discomfort or disease it causes
others.
My "facile" argument against this still stands: Your right to blow
that cancerous crap around ends right where the respiratory system
of others begins. You can't get around this.
Intolerance of liberty is un-American, whether you agree with that liberty or not.
Yes indeed. So what do we do with you when you blatantly
demonstrate your lack of concern for others liberty to breathe
clean air, and then when you go on to trample on that
liberty?
Exercised liberties must be:
1) Personal *and* informed, or
2) Consensual *and* informed
Public smoking habits fail because they're NOT personal, and NOT
consensual.
You want to smoke? Fine. Do it at home. No one wants to increase
their disease risk on your behalf any more than they want someone
coming over and taking a crap on their dinner table and increasing
their disease risk that way.
Your problem -- and the problem with all smokers who think this
habit is OK to pursue around non-consenting others -- is that while
YOU want freedoms recognized, you're not willing to do the same for
others. That makes you the enemy of liberty: Not its champion.
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