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The tobacco industry faces a crucial vote in California where Proposition 29 could slap a...
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Saturday, June 2, 2012, 10:43 AM ETThe tobacco industry faces a crucial vote in California where Proposition 29 could slap a $1-a-pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products, with proceeds going to fund cancer research. Industry players Altria Group (MO), Reynolds American (RAI), and others have spent close to $50M in an attempt to prevent a yes vote in the state from spurring additional anti-smoking tax measures to crop up around the U.S. Poll watchers say the vote set for June 5 in the Golden State is too close to call.
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This news story has 18 comments:
It is amazing that $1 (or more in NY) extra doesn't seem to curb the nicotine addiction. Maybe CA could propose Prop 30 that taxes large softdrinks?
I think it's a good idea to tax cigarettes out of existence, I wish they had done it in the 70's before I started smoking.
Personal responsibility is one thing, but when something is addictive and dangerous to ones health (not to mention easily accessible by persons under the legal age) I think it should be made illegal like any other dangerous drug.
Tobacco companies that have seen sales in the US drop have discovered a whole new world out there where smoking is not frowned upon, but rather, the norm. Many European countries, China, India, Africa, the list goes on and on where smoking is simply accepted.
"We" are the ones who pay for the actions "you" chose to be what is legal and what is not because "you" and/or other "yous" can' control yourselves. The experience of the drug laws should be instructional for considering tobacco and sugar laws.
It costs $30k a year to incarcerate someone for drugs. Innocent bystanders are murdered around the world. "We" get to pay the tab because "you" are too weak to control yourself. Mexico and half of American cities are fiefdoms of drug lords because "you" make it illegal for people to do what they want to and will continue to do. The social costs of making drugs illegal and punishable by incarceration are staggering. And "you" want to expand this concept of making individual freedom of choice decisions to cigarettes and sugar drinks (your dangerous drugs)? Untaxed cigarettes from the drug cartels are beginning to appear. Outlawing cigarettes will make them more profitable than hard drugs. You will create another compelling market opportunity for the ruthless.This opportunity will be a result of illegality (scarcity) and "we" will get to pay the social cost for "your" proposals.
You need to expand your thinking to include the consequences of your ideas. "We" are tired of paying for them.
If you don't like the way we do things in America, perhaps you "we's" should move to Mexico or Columbia where their lack of regard for the consequences of a "wild west" society are plainly evident.
Too much tax money to lose, though, so it won't happen anytime soon.