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New taxes on tobacco to burn big hole in consumers’ pockets
STAFF REPORT
It may be April Fools’ Day, but this is no joke.
A 62-cent increase in cigarette tax begins today.
President Barack Obama signed a bill in February to increase taxes on tobacco products in an effort to help expand a federal health-care program for children, according to philipmorrisusa.com. Philip Morris USA is the largest tobacco company in the U.S.
The increase, which will raise taxes on cigarettes from 39 cents per pack to $1.01 per pack, is expected to raise $32.8 billion for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The extra tax will fund health care for about 11 million children nationwide.
The tax on chewing tobacco will rise from 19.5 cents per pound to 50 cents per pound. Other products such as cigars and smokeless tobacco will also be affected.
Two Valley men agreed to disagree about whether the tax is justified.
Demayne Earvin, of Youngstown, said the same types of taxes seem to work in other countries such as Canada.
He said he’s a smoker but not necessarily against a higher tobacco tax. “I like it because it’ll make me quit,” he added.
Earvin said he has already seen a price increase over the past six weeks.
“The worst part about it is convenient stores have been acting as if it’s been in effect for awhile,” he said.
This early increase in price could be due to Philip Morris’ raising Marl-boro prices by 71 cents per pack at the beginning of March. Prices on smaller brands were raised by 81 cents per pack. Other major companies have done the same.
Representatives from the company have repeatedly said the early increase has been a direct result of the federal excise tax increase.
John Thompson, of Youngstown, said he disagrees with the tax, but not because he’s a smoker.
“I have a problem with them targeting only smokers,” he said. “How can you just choose one group of people and tax the hell out of them?”
Thompson and Earvin both said they are not heavy smokers, and the tax will cause them to spend less on tobacco.
“It’s not really a deterrent,” Thompson said. “I’m a social smoker. Sometimes I go weeks without smoking, but I will smoke less.”
efranco@vindy.com
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Comments
They should try taxing alchole for once and leave the smokers alone for a change..I feel if people want to make tons of kids they should have a job to raise those kids not tax payer that pay for there welfare..
If people would not smoke, they wouldn't have to pay for tobacco, health problems, tax, etc. It is alot cheaper to quit. You have to train your body to accept the chemicals involved with smoking and you have to train your body to quit. Oh well, that would make cents.
It's not going to be cheaper to quit.
I am so frustrated with everyone that keeps saying this is such a good thing. I don't even smoke and I think this is horrible!
The government is taking advantage of each and every smoker out there that wants to quit and can't. Health insurance doesn't cover smoking cessation programs and they are expensive otherwise. Maybe if the tax was going towards coverage for smoking cessation programs, it would make more sense. But, instead, it's just going straight to health care for the children of the indigent who think that their idea of a job is collecting welfare for as long as they can.
Oh, and for everyone who doesn't care about the tax because they don't smoke -- they're just going to tax something else to make up for the lost revenue when people quit. They're going to get us coming and going.
Federal and state health care. Please. Make these people get off their rear ends and work for it just like everyone else does.
They should rise it 2 dollars
Like I said, Rmzrez... it might hurt the smokers now, but it'll hurt you later when those smokers are finally able and/or willing to stop smoking.
I guess I would be OK with that and will pay my share as long I do not have to breathe their smoke
I don't agree with taxing morality. It is one's own personal choice to smoke or not to smoke. The government has no business taxing people to force them into what they feel is the appropriate decision. No one has that right. Cigarettes are a legal vice, just because some choose not to while others do makes no matter. Besides, the amount of tax generated will be no where near enough money to fund the SCHIP expansion they stated. It is a good excuse though isn't it? Oh, and to the person who said tax alcohol, I believe they did increase that tax as well but not like the one they are imposing on the cigarette smokers.
WOW !!!!!! did you ever hear about second hand smoke !!!!! and ones right to go anywhere they wish with out breathing it . Smoke if you wish just do not blowing it out into my air
But see there is your mistake rmzrez. You no more own that air then does the smoker. Don't smoke in your own home, fine, but don't regulate what others choose. It may be different then yours, but that is just life.
Just as a giant PS though, this issue is about taxes, not second hand smoke or banning smoking.
Rmz, if you have children who are going to depend on these taxes for health care, I hope you thank every smoker you see from this point forward. Thank them for the increase they will be paying in taxes that will go toward social programs to make sure kids can go to the doctor's when they're sick since their own parents won't pay for it.
They'll keep raising it because the vast majority of smokers keep paying it without even blinking an eye. So long as smokers keep making it so easy to get tax revenue by doing so, things will not change. Simple economics.
If you dont smoke, you shouldnt support this either. When the revenue dries up from tobacco taxes - and it WILL dry up or drastically decline over time - they will come after you next.
Step away from that McDOnalds! Eating there makes you fat and thus, it costs more to insure you, making the rest of us who arent obese pay more for OUR health coverage. Is that fair? Nope. And neither is taxing the smokers to death. I dont smoke, for those who are wondering.
And better yet, the tax is paying for yet ANOTHER form of welfare! Its just a step up from Medicaid, but it's still welfare. Those people are the ones more likely to smoke in the first place, and they are paying for their smokes with OUR tax dollars. You are paying that tobacco tax increase whether you smoke the tobacco yourself or not.
At this increase in taxes, smokers may soon find it cheaper to buy marijauna illegally, than legally purchasing Borkum Riff pipe tobacco.
Boycut the Lottery and use the $$$$ you save to buy Cigs, then watch the taxes go down.....whats next a tax on fast food .. or texting... or miles you drive....get ready its all comming... On a different note , Pay off old debts , pay new ones on time , and use your credit wisely...your credit score will mean everything in the near future....thank you for listening
1st of all.to all of you smoker haters, how many people get killed in a accident for smoking. 2nd of all why not tax the beer whisky and wine. you know what i like about the no smoking law. well lets see. 1st its okay to take the tax money to build staduims and parks and everything else. but we cant smoke in them because god for bid someone will brath our smoke. but its okay to go to a ball park and get drunk and then try to drive. now with that being said which is more dangrious. my point made. tax the alachol.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
rmzrez - your comments are very rude and uneducated. First, it is not 'your' air. Second, is every choice you make a healthy one? Do you eat fast food? Eat candy? Exericse daily? Drink alcohol? My guess is no. People always make unhealthy choices and it is not your right to point fingers and claim to be superior to smokers. What is next? Tell all the people who get diabetes and heart disease from poor life choices that they now have a higher tax rate? After all, by your standards, that was their choice, right? Smoking should be treated as the addiction it is and the government should be using these tax dollars for free patches and smoking cessation aids opposed to funding the welfare system. Now that would make to much sense. Smokers are punished enough by living with addiction, people like you who point fingers and ridicule them, and now are punished even more financially.
WOW I guess you can not read . I said I do not own the air but why do the smokers have the right to blow their smoke into it . And you are right smoking is a addiction . I had it for 40 years and I know what it can do. And I would be helpful to anybody who would like to quit.
Call me crazy, but I can't see you as helpful. It is not a "right" to do something over another person. If you don't like it, walk to another "air space" or politely ask the smoker to go to another place. You act like all smokers are rude and purposely blow smoke in your face. Actually, you act like you are above others and yours is the only opinion that matters.
A previous commenter stated that the federal government should leave the smokers alone and tax alcohol users. Boy, if you want a fight, you'll get one if you do that. Both smokers and non-smokers alike drink alcohol. I bet there will be far more people enraged than any earlier cigarette taxes.
I personally have no problem with a federal tax being placed on beer or wine or alcohol in general. So long as the tax dollars go to something very worth while.
Good luck smokers, I hope you don't spend your kids college fund to keep up that habit!
Your Caps Lock is stuck.
Shouldn't EVERYONE ~ smoker/ non-smoker be contributing to the health care program for children!
~ a form of dis-crimination.
T-axed E-nough A-lready = TEA PARTY on April 15th, 2009
information about it below ~~ you will need to copy & paste into subject box ~~ here it is:
Anti-Tax Tea Party Protests Nationwide: What You Need To Know -
~ Our government is slowly taking control~~
GM / cigs ~~ what else? = SEE BELOW
~here are a few more CONTROLS our government is pushing for *Since you will not be able to click on them ~~ u need to copy & paste each one separately into subject box.
~Here they are & is scarey:
Obama Drafting Bill to Take Control of the Internet!!!
Obama Passing Laws to Search Citizen's Computers
Peace, I agree with a lot of what you say.
But can you please lose the ~'s (I forget what they are called)?
:(
Sorry ~~ but that's my style of writing~~
While I agree it's one's own personal choice on whether or not to smoke, don't smoke near me. If it's your choice to smoke and I have to breathe it, then it's my choice to chew and spit on you. If your smoke isn't supposed to bother me that much then my secondhand tobacco shouldn't bother you, either. People can quit smoking if they so choose. You had to teach yourself how to and fight your body's urge to tell you you were doing something wrong to begin with - you can undo it, too. There are tons of tobacco quit programs. Find one, if you don't like the tax. While in general I absolutely belive this country is taxed to death, which is contrary to a lot of what this country was founded against, if this tax gets people to abandon the cigarette, so be it. I'll raise heck when Uncle Sam starts taxing jogging.
I don't mind some reasonalbe restrictions. I'm gald they do not allow smoking in my workplace as it is an office with cubicle wals and the air circulation is not so hot. However, I have never minded people smoking in places like bars, that is where things have gone too far.
Regarding government control; wake up. If you smoke tobacco regularly you are already being controlled. You are hooked on a product that is manufactured specifically to be addictive, just to make you need it and take your money. Not much different from your corner drug dealer, except it's legal and usually takes longer to kill you.
Food for thought.
Has Obama stopped smoking?
grog8797:
You mentioned that you are glad that smoking isn't allowed in your work place. I assume that is because you don't want to be exposed to second hand smoke. I don't know how many people frequent your work place every day but I doubt that it is as many that frequent the average bar. Why is it that you don't have a problem with the employees and patrons of the bar being exposed the the second hand smoke you enjoy avoiding? Just curious.