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Stop taxing smokers

Freeman Lewis
Letters |
Thursday, November 25, 2010

I'm really confused about our taxes.

Who in the state of Maine gave who the right to keep on putting excess amounts of tax on cigarettes?

I don't remember voting on any such tax. I'm a smoker, but I know a lot of people who don't smoke and even they say it's ridiculous to tax cigarettes all the time. Where's the end?

I've smoked for 50 years and it's not fair to us who have done the same.

The answer is simple: the state has to stop spending what it doesn't have.

Freeman Lewis, South Paris

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Displaying comments, from newest to oldest

Bubba's picture

Here's the Answer:

By Bubba, unverified — Sun, 11/28/2010 - 16:18

I got a two word solution for you: STOP SMOKING.
There ya go.

concerned KD's picture

So by the logic shown in the

By concerned KD, unverified — Fri, 11/26/2010 - 17:42

So by the logic shown in the posts here it would be safe to say that anything that can be determined to be bad for you by anyones opinion is subject to unjust taxation?? Did I read this correctly?
So someone with habitual driving infractions Or caused a motor vehicle accident should pay 120% sales tax on thier next car purchase and insurance? Since it is a danger to other drivers to have this person on the road. Right?
Every item in the grocery store that contains trans fats should be taxed 120% as well since it is unhealthy for all you fat people to keep eating without regard for your own health... Right?
And lets not forget the (as previously stated) icky tax... As I have read and understand that if someone does something deemed as icky by others they should be subject to 120% taxation of goods contributing to thier ickyness. Right?
Next would be all the sun tanners who waste money sitting in a tanning bed. Prolonged exposure to the sun could be detremental to your health since skin cancer is the most common form of cancer out there. Anyone going to a sun tanning location, or better yet anyone buying sunscreen should pay 120% tax on these things since sun exposure is so bad for your health and contributes to the rising health care costs... Right?

Lets not forget the biggest one of all. ALCOHOL. Lets impose an alcohol tax of 200% of the wholesale cost.. Alcohol is bad and is the ultimate gateway drug to ALL forms of getting high.. It has no beneficial effects on the human body.. It impairs your ability to think,act appropriately according to socially acceptable behavior(because that is what we are getting at right social acceptance of actions). It is shredding the moral fiber of this country down to its core and must be taxed.. The only way to make a socially unacceptable behavior an ok behavior is to tax it right?
I would find it extremely hard to believe that any of you who agree with this sin tax on tobacco, dont drink alcohol... If you agree with a sin tax on tobacco then you cannot dissagree with a sin tax on alcohol..
This list could go on and on and on. But the most disheartening thing I have read in these posts it the support shown for unfair taxation...Regardless of what the item being taxed is, every american should be against these unfair taxation practices based on sin taxing... You may think you are one of those people who will never be effected by these taxes but you just wait and see. The state will find something you buy and then tax it at 120% or greater of the wholesale cost, just because you buy it. Then we will see how angry you are when you have to shell out the cash for the crazy taxes on the items you buy...
The government should never have the power to control peoples purchases and spending habits with out of control taxation practices.. This is how they control us. If you would like to be known as the sheeple of the united states of america then you just sit there and let them just tax tax tax you any way they see fit... If not, then stand up against unfair taxation.

CommonSense's picture

First chuck the unjust infavor of justly taxed.

By CommonSense, unverified — Sun, 11/28/2010 - 12:25

First we have to chuck the “unjustly “taxed in favor of justly taxed. Next we have to look at is it not only bad for you that you are doing/using the product but does your doing/using unfairly endanger the health and wellbeing of those around you who have no control/innocent bystanders. Cigarette smoking everyone would agree endangers everyone who comes in contact with the smoker directly and indirectly for all the reasons Armymom pointed out and more which she also pointed out.

Habitual Driving Infractions/causing motor vehicle accidents: We already have “taxes” for these. They are called fines, license suspensions, civil judgments, and increased insurance premiums.

Obesity is a huge problem; bigger in Maine than the national average by far. Many years ago we did have tax on those no-no foods but it was abolished as unfair to the poor because it made soda, chips, candy less accessible to them. It also used to be that those things could not be purchased with Food Stamps. No argument changing both was really bad moves. Had the legislature just put a tax on all junk food and not tried to tax auto repairs and all the other stuff they might have gotten the tax to stick as well as the junk sticks to Maine waistlines.

Construction workers and others in southern states where they work outside year rounds who maintain a consistent tan have the lowest incidence of skin cancer. It isn’t the tan that gets you, it is the burn. A tan is a natural protection against the suns harmful rays. Those who maintain a tan, maintain a level of natural protection. Those most at risk of skin cancer are he “weekend warriors”. The hikers, boaters, weekend campers, sports fanatics, and sun worshipers who regularly burn. Regular tanning bed users who use appropriately maintaining a protective tan not burning actually are reducing their risk of skin cancer.

While I do not drink alcoholic beverages, I do use alcohol in my gourmet cooking, I know many people who drink socially and I disagree with you that alcohol is the gateway drug to ALL forms of getting high. I know people who have never touched a drop of alcohol and had serious addiction problems either courtesy of their doctors’ over zealousness in prescription writing or illicit drugs. I also know people who have had very serious problems with alcohol that never touched an illicit drug, have always had an aversion to so much as an aspirin when it came to over the counter stuff, and would not even consider a prescribed narcotic. My friends and I do all agree with you that alcohol should be more heavily taxed than it already is. The damage to peoples’ lives, both the abuser and those around them is beyond words when it comes to alcohol. We also, very unhappily, resolved that marijuana must be legalized so it can be sold beside alcohol and heavily taxed to cover the cost of the damage it does. We aren’t happy about it, but see no alternative.

We disagree with you on the government using taxation to control purchasing. If purchasing and using a particular product puts undue consequences on others in society those purchasing and using must be made to pay up front to make sure they pay at least part of the damages.

fatandhappy's picture

Commonsense? Who are these

By fatandhappy, unverified — Sun, 11/28/2010 - 14:25

Commonsense? Who are these "friends" you speak of? And, if they have an opinion then why can't they post it here themselves?

Could it be that your friends are Candice and eco-friendly?

You all three seem to think you know absolutely everything about absolutely every subject on Earth, as if you were "known worldwide" and sought after to save communities that are in trouble and can't survive without your help and vast knowledge.

Yep, you three are alot alike.

Nancy1's picture

three? The site is pocked

By Nancy1, unverified — Sun, 11/28/2010 - 20:25

three? The site is pocked with them, the comments section of the SJ is central Maine's version of Sybil.

scott's picture

I drive a car and am tired of

By scott, unverified — Fri, 11/26/2010 - 09:26

I drive a car and am tired of paying a gas tax, excise, tax, car part tax, tire tax, oil tax, auto sales tax, smog tax, ect..... I am so confused about the taxes too.

Woody's picture
verified

Actually...

By Bob Woodbury, verified user — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 13:06

if you voted in an election, you voted for someone to represent you. That's he person who may have helped increase your taxes. I don't know who that is since I don't know who your representatives in Augusta are. You'd have to do that and vote accordingly next time. Then again, if you didn't vote at all...

armymom's picture

The Tax should be $20 a Pack or MORE

By armymom, unverified — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 11:06

I am sure all the smokers out there are going to hit the disagree button on this one which does not make any of the facts less true or my opinions any less valid. First the facts: 1) smoking is a disgusting filthy habit that pollutes the air that not only the smoker who chooses to light up has to breath but anyone in the vicinity including the smokers family, neighbors, co-workers and even the innocent stranger that has to passes them on the street or the customer of their employer who has to walk by them as they stand outside puffing away also have to breathe. Employers, I would strongly encourage you to seriously consider a total ban on smoking on your property and prohibiting employees from smoking in public areas adjacent to your property as well, to keep them from deterring customers from doing business with you. 2) As an asthmatic in a family of asthmatics every time one of us encounters one of you we are suddenly confronted with lungs that seize up, thanks, we appreciate your polluting the air we breathe and threatening not only your life voluntarily but our lives against our will. Smokers kill none smokers every day by inducing acute medical crisis such as fatal asthma attacks. 3) The cigarette butts you insist on flipping out your car and home windows are responsible for countless fires every year. Some of these fires do minor cosmetic damage as in the cases of roadside or backyard grass fires, utilizing a fire truck or two and a half dozen men; others are major, destroying homes and hundreds of thousands of acres, killing wild life, causing evacuations, loss of life and taking weeks and millions of dollars to put out. Thank you. 4) Cigarette butts contain highly concentrated levels of highly toxic substances including nicotine at levels which will kill a child, pets, or wildlife that suck on or ingest them. So again, thank you for flicking your filthy butts everywhere and leaving them laying around for these innocents to get ahold of. 5) Smoking is filthy. Not only does it pollute the air we breathe, it attaches itself to everything; walls, ceilings, carpeting, ventilation systems, furniture, equipment, clothing, and people. The added cleaning costs for “smoking” hotel rooms and apartments are astronomical. There is a much greater rate of depreciation on automobiles that have been smoked in with correspondingly far lower resale value. Homes that have had a smoker in residence have significantly decreased values. 6) Smoking in bed, cigarettes mysteriously lost in sofas and stuffed chairs, smoking while on oxygen, and smoking materials left unattended are responsible for a disproportionate number of home fires, often at night, and more often resulting in serious injury or death. 7) More motor vehicle accidents are caused by drivers distracted by smoking related activities; disposing of smoking material, attempting to recover a dropped cigarette, panic over a dropped cigarette or ash in a lap, attempting to light a cigarette or searching for a cigarette or lighting material, than cellphone use, talking and texting, consulting a map, applying make-up and adjusting controls including the audio system combined. So, please, don’t smoke while driving or riding in a vehicle. 8) Smoking not only causes cancer, it causes premature aging. People who smoke accelerate the aging process which shows dramatically in the face. A smoking 45 year old can expect to have the facial structural and skin condition of a 58 year old according to dermatologists, and plastic and reconstructive surgeons. If you don’t care about those around you, how about caring about how you look? 9) Smoking is an additive habit that, like alcoholism causes the addict to divert funds from necessities, like feeding children in order to supply the habit.

There are many more reasons to avoid smoking and to make the use of tobacco products prohibitive by making the sale and use of tobacco products more restrictive, eliminate them all together or to increase taxes (sin tax) to make the purchase of these products prohibitively expensive. I will stop here as I hope I have made the point that there are plenty of reasons to jack the tax on cigarettes. I personally would have no objection to a $20 or more per pack tax just to cover the added costs to non-smokers and communities for deaths, medical costs, property damage and loss, fire services, and injuries associated with this nasty habit.

Woody's picture
verified

You could have said this...

By Bob Woodbury, verified user — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 13:07

with a lot fewer words. As it is, they look at the length and skip it.

CommonSense's picture

To a rational nonsmoker it

By CommonSense, unverified — Sun, 11/28/2010 - 11:40

To a rational nonsmoker it might have been said in fewer words; I have yet to meet a smoker who was rational about their addition however. I doubt even with this many fine points do well expressed it will make a difference to a smoker though a valiant attempt to be commended.

fatandhappy's picture

Yawn!!!!

By fatandhappy, unverified — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 14:51

What did he say? I fell asleep 10 minutes into reading it

formerbludevil's picture

and that is...

By formerbludevil, unverified — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 22:58

EXACTLY the problem with our society at present. First, we only have enough of an attention span to respond to "sound bites" and we can't continue an intelligent, reasoned, factually-supported debate without resorting to bickering and partisan ideology. Second, we have gotten so far away from the freedom and independence our fore-fathers had envisioned for us it's appalling. Initially, most of us have assumed that the writer of the column has been a drain on society because of his smoking. We have assumed that the writer receives entitlements that are a direct result of his smoking which may, or may not be so. If we look at some statistics...such an ugly word for most SJ bloggers...the $327 billion in annual Medicare expenditures for end-of-life medical care far exceeds the $96 billion per year the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services has identified that goes directly to the care of America's smoking population. Or how about the approximately $150 billion spent on America's obese population? Should we start including happy meals and other fast food in the "sin tax" category? Would that wake you up, fatandhappy?

fatandhappy's picture

formerbluedevil

By fatandhappy, unverified — Fri, 11/26/2010 - 00:19

First of all, I did read armymom's whole post, all I was doing was agreeing that it was longwinded for such obvious points as she was making. I was being funny, I thought, but you took me seriously.

And if you are trying to defend smoking, give it a rest. Yes, the writer has a right to smoke.....and he also has the right to be an idiot, a drunk, and a KKK member......but just because it is legal doesn't mean it's a good idea.

veritas's picture
verified

"You're really confused about your taxes?"

By Ronald Riml, verified user — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 10:43

Hell - you're an addict. You can't even think cogently. And you have to ask where the end is?? C'mon, for real????

All this from a guy who burns his money up in smoke..... Sheesh......

xavier90's picture

I can clear up your confusion.

By xavier90, unverified — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 09:32

I see where you believe that high taxation infringes on your right to smoke. Your burden though is outweighed by your infringing on my rights. You see, my tax dollars, at a rate much higher than a few mere pennies per cigarette, will go to support you as your 50 year smoking habit puts you in the hospital suffering from emphysema, lung cancer etc. So if the state were to stop taxing your cigarettes, then perhaps when your time comes they will stop spending to keep you and your fellow smokers alive.

fatandhappy's picture

Well said xavier90

By fatandhappy, unverified — Thu, 11/25/2010 - 09:56

If the price is too high, then he should quit smoking. And if he continues to pay the price because cigarettes are that important to him, then he needs to quit complaining.

Quit something.....either smoking or complaining.

But I do have one concern here. If the state taxes tobacco heavily because of the cost of health care to the public, does that money generated by the tax actually go to that purpose? Or does it just go into the general fund to be spent on whatever the legislature chooses to spend it on....such as more entitlements for foreign refugees living in our state?

Where does the money go?

BTW, I chewed tobacco for over 30 years, but when a pack of Levi Garrett went up to $5 I quit. Now it's like $7 or $8 a pack. I am not judging the author here, I am merely saying that he has two choices.....quit smoking or quit complaining.

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