http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8688236The Straight Story (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 11:16 AM
Original message
Price on a pack of cigarettes has skyrocketed to $14.50 at some New York City stores
Smokers huff & puff over new cigarette tax
Smokers are used to coughing up a lot -- but this is getting ridiculous.
The price on a pack of cigarettes has skyrocketed to $14.50 at some New York City stores thanks to a hefty new tax -- leaving even the most nicotine-addicted buttheads considering nixing their fix.
"This is my last cigarette ever!" fumed William MacLeod, 45, of Brooklyn. "At $15 a pack, this is ridiculous. It's a good excuse for me to quit."
Ella Maxine, a small-business owner from Park Slope, Brooklyn, almost choked on her smokes when she had to plunk down $15 for a pack of American Spirits cigarettes at Smiler's Deli on Fifth Avenue near 46th Street.
"They were $13 on Wednesday, and they're $15 today," she said.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/these_packs_cost_LGz...
We can control the behavior of the poor this way. Good job puritans, we will keep people in line like the british used to. Next up, tax soda, condoms, abortions, gas (so the rich won't have as much traffic).
Controlling others, it is what freedom is all about.
Now move on to the next thread and say we need to tax the rich to poorness...or at least to where you don`t have to beg fellow DUmmies for money.
HockeyMom (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 11:32 AM
Response to Reply #9
11. Fat Tax
That actually was floated around. Putting on a tax for all "junk food" to make people stop eating those too. The Health Police in force.
Something tells me the DUmp will be hit hard.
geckosfeet (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
4. File this under - why not legalize pot and really rake in the taxes?
Edited on Sun Jul-04-10 11:31 AM by geckosfeet
Nicotine butts I can do without. Booze - take it or leave. Pot - haven't touched it in 20 years.
Taxes - we all pay through the nostrils. Problem is, high taxes and prices impact the poor/economically challenged in ways that affluent people cannot comprehend. And affluent does not mean rich.
We have state sponsored lotteries, state approved casinos and the legal torture of horses and dogs for our entertainment. If we are going to have selective and discriminatory tax rates I vote that income from gambling activities should be HEAVILY taxed. Sales of luxury car, boats, planes and homes should be HEAVILY taxed.
on edit - added last paragraph.
In other words...TAX HIM NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!
panader0 (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 11:23 AM
Response to Original message
7. At the duty free stores in Douglas and Nogales, Arizona, the cost
is $9.00 a carton for an off brand called Sheriff. 90 cents a pack. Brand names like Marlboro, Salem, etc. are $22.00 a carton. You buy the smokes, walk across the border and turn around and return to the US. The cost of Salem Light 100s in my town is around $75.00. The difference is all taxes. Jeez. I want to grow my own tobacco. Know where to get seeds?
No,you proudly pay the taxes needed to fund the government you want more of.
burnsei sensei (539 posts) Sun Jul-04-10 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
15. I think a nation-wide black market in cigarettes
is the only solution to this problem.
May it come.
We're becoming more Soviet every day, thanks to the stupidity of our leaders.
Taxing cigarettes but not taxing banks, corporations, etc. Stupid.
Not for the reason you think but the truest words ever written at the DUmp.
bobbolink (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 12:38 PM
Response to Original message
26. Its time for Democrats and "progressives" to take responsibility for their own part in this.
How often we see threads here about raising taxes on whatever it is that people think should be limited.
The fuel tax is a great example. Environmental "progessives" want the gas tax to be raised, and we hear this all the time. Yet even when it is pointed out to them that all it does is hurt poor people, and studies show that those who use the most gas DON'T reduce usage based on taxes, they keep pushing the taxes.
Urban democrates push sales taxes to pay for stadiums, etc., which again, only hurts poor people and gives absolutely NOTHING back to them. It has also been shown that the stadiums aren't returning revenue to the cities like is claimed.
Yet, Democrats continue to fall for these regressive taxes.
We need to look at our own selves, because we are complicit in all of this.
bobbo said something that made a bit of sense?
There must be a huge rip in that space/time continuum thingie.
hayu_lol (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 01:06 PM
Response to Reply #28
31. The last big tax added on cigarettes...
was to go to children's health care. Now that we have (ummm) reformed health insurance...why should this tax not be cut.
Black market? Submarine cig runs from Mexico to Oregon? Hijacking trucks off the highway?
Our glorious leaders are so desperate for taxes now that they will consider taxing almost anything...except the very wealthy to whom these taxes are simply not a problem.
Legalize Pot? Why not. Slap a $50/pack tax on them.
To give you something else to whine about.
OmmmSweetOmmm (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-04-10 04:21 PM
Response to Reply #45
47. And one also has to remember promises by politicians claiming that there
would be no new taxes on the middle class......
I also abhor the fact that we are fast becoming a nanny state. I am an adult and please don't dictate what is good or not good for me.
OMG...you didn`t actually write that at the DUmp.
