I knew it was only a matter of time before the bitching began. As a smoker, I have been keenly aware of how much money in state & local taxes I've been paying for the past several years. The price of a pack of cigarettes has more than tripled since I began smoking. Smokers pay for sports stadiums and municipal buildings, neither of which you can smoke in, and we supposedly pay for healthcare too. I'm not bitching about that. In fact, the most recent taxes on cigarettes were levied from a bill I happily voted for - to bring basic healthcare to all grade school children in class.
But all along I've maintained that there's something not right about this slipperly slope of a game the government has played with tobacco. On one hand they say it's a killer, and on another they it's a wonderful source of income. They are happy to subsidise tobacco farming, and produce public service announcements declaring tobacco companies to be liars and death mongers. If what they say is true, how could any body of democratic government, regardless of party or creed, not see fit to outlaw the plant altogether, as they have with various other drugs and plants? I know why...because the love the money!
And sure enough! Now that the cost prohibitive taxes, state wide smoking bans and re-education commercials are starting to work, the states have begun bitching about the lack of money rolling in!
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0216tobaccotaxes0216.html
What is a modern state government to do?
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