States' Budget Woes Ignites Debate Over Raising Tobacco Taxes

[Againsheila]

That's exactly what many will do, which will reduce the revenue uncle was going to get from the tax.

Yeah, they say that then never actually do.

Yes, they do.

Cigarettes are not a necessity...I have no problem taxing them, or alcohol. BTW, it was a raise in the cigarette taxes that caused my parents to quit smoking. It was wonderful visiting them those last 13 years they were alive.....I still lost my mom to lung cancer.

My father in law smoked most of his life and is now paying for it with emphysema.

I'm also okay with taxing yachts....highpriced cars, etc. In short, I have no problem with "luxury taxes".

yeah, but it's a "good" thing.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Yeah, they say that then never actually do.

Yes, they do.

Cigarettes are not a necessity...I have no problem taxing them, or alcohol. BTW, it was a raise in the cigarette taxes that caused my parents to quit smoking. It was wonderful visiting them those last 13 years they were alive.....I still lost my mom to lung cancer.

My father in law smoked most of his life and is now paying for it with emphysema.

I'm also okay with taxing yachts....highpriced cars, etc. In short, I have no problem with "luxury taxes".

yeah, but it's a "good" thing.

I don't disagree with that at all.

 

[Oddball]

As for your "conclusive" prove...I'd like to dispute it, but that would take another thread, and quite frankly, I don't have the energy. We've had no "luxury" taxes in play long enough to determine any long term outcome, at least, not in this state.

New Luxury Tax Trimming Boat Sales - NYTimes.com

Falling Tax Would Lift All Yachts - NYTimes.com

Why did the government repeal the luxury tax on expensive yachts in 1993?

None of your cites is a study, only opinions. Again, it wasn't in effect long enough to determine if it was a failure or not. As for buying their boats overseas, that could easily be solved, if our government wanted to solve it. Just like they could bring our jobs home, if they wanted to bring them home, and stop illegal immigration if they wanted to stop it.

And I'm sure that you can come up with a hefty list of all the times whereby taxes were increased on a certain activity, and it resulted in an increase in production and sales.

 

[Luissa]

Just a year after smokers were slapped with the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever, public health advocates are urging states to follow up with their own cigarette tax hikes to offset declining revenues lost in the recession and to press more people into giving up smoking.

A new report by a coalition of public health organizations says states could raise more than $9 billion in new annual revenue by increasing cigarette taxes by $1 per pack.

The report, "Tobacco Taxes: A Win-Win-Win for Cash-Strapped States," argues that the taxes also would cause more than 1.2 million adult smokers to quit, prevent more than 2.3 million kids from becoming smokers and save $52.8 billion in health care costs.

FOXNews.com - States' Budget Woes Ignites Debate Over Raising Tobacco Taxes

Here we go again. Eeeeevil smokers are once again targeted.

I think the average pack here is $7, and our governor it talking about raising the taxes on a single pack by a dollar again.
Of course we never raise the taxes on liquir here, probably because liquir stores are ran by the state.

 

[Againsheila]

New Luxury Tax Trimming Boat Sales - NYTimes.com

Falling Tax Would Lift All Yachts - NYTimes.com

Why did the government repeal the luxury tax on expensive yachts in 1993?

None of your cites is a study, only opinions. Again, it wasn't in effect long enough to determine if it was a failure or not. As for buying their boats overseas, that could easily be solved, if our government wanted to solve it. Just like they could bring our jobs home, if they wanted to bring them home, and stop illegal immigration if they wanted to stop it.

And I'm sure that you can come up with a hefty list of all the times whereby taxes were increased on a certain activity, and it resulted in an increase in production and sales.

Never said it produced an INCREASE in sales...only that it wasn't given much of a chance to see if sales would remain the same. Even if sales decline, if the higher tax brings in more money proportionately, it's a good thing, well, it is if the taxes are used appropriately. But then again, we all know how bad our government is at spending our money......maybe you're right and we should just stop raising all taxes.

 

[Vel]

Hmmm. I wonder if we'll someday see a suit like this in the U.S. It certainly makes sense that the governments that collect tax revenue ( profit ) from tobacco should be held as culpable as big tobacco.

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Thursday, December 17, 2009
Ottawa named as defendant in BC tobacco lawsuit

"In March 2008, the tobacco companies petitioned the British Columbia Supreme Court to add Ottawa as a third party defendant arguing that the federal government should also be held liable “as senior partners” of the tobacco industry by keeping it legal and collecting tax revenue from it.

And, it's really hard to argue with their logic.

Both senior levels of government have been aware of the alleged health hazards of smoking for decades. The federal government could have legislated against the manufacture and distribution of tobacco at any time. Instead, they chose the course of action recommended by anti-smoker zealots: extortionist levels of taxation and draconian smoking bans. They chose to protect the billions of dollars they and their provincial counterparts collect annually from the sale of tobacco products."

Stand FAST: Ottawa named as defendant in BC tobacco lawsuit