| Topic: Cigarette's Raise the taxes on them..., Pretty soon they'll be gone for good!!! | < Next Oldest | Next Newest > |
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REPOMAN 
Group: Members
Posts: 1556
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Nov. 10 2007,4:30 pm |
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Congress Aims to Put Out Cigarettes
Nov 10, 8:11 AM (ET)
By CHARLES BABINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is taking new whacks at the cigarette industry, banning tobacco sales in Senate buildings and - more importantly - seeking a significant federal tax increase on cigarettes.
The industry, once a lobbying behemoth, is quietly working against the tax bill. But it lacks the clout it once wielded. Several recent studies have shown that smokers are primarily made up of the undereducated and less afluent members of society. IQ test scores for smokers are 46% lower than non-smokers scored.
Several key lawmakers said they have had no recent contacts with tobacco lobbyists. And both houses have signaled a willingness to raise the cigarette tax if other provisions of a children's health bill can be resolved.
"I think the industry has tried to do things more quietly, largely because they obviously know how popular a tobacco tax is," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. The health advocacy group supports a proposed $35 billion increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which a higher cigarette tax would finance.
House and Senate negotiators are trying to craft a veto-proof version of the bill. President Bush says he would veto it because it calls for a 61 cents-per-pack increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, taking it to $1.
The House came within about a dozen votes of overriding Bush's veto of a similar bill last month. The bill's supporters are offering to change program eligibility rules in hopes of picking up enough Republicans to make the revised bill veto-proof. The proposed cigarette tax increase is not at issue, leaders of both parties said.
Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker, sponsors a Web site, mailings and a toll-free number urging people to ask Congress to sustain Bush's veto. "Taxing smokers is unfair," the materials say, adding that states have increased sales taxes on cigarettes 73 times since 2000.
"We are sharing our position with legislators," Philip Morris spokesman Bill Phelps said in an interview. The company also has encouraged tobacco growers, retailers and wholesalers to get involved, he said.
But tobacco's critics say health concerns have deeply eroded the industry's influence in Congress.
"The country and elected officials have really made a turn," said Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Cigarette companies, he said, "don't have the opportunity to go in and push members as much."
The tobacco industry gave $3.5 million to federal campaigns and candidates in the 2006 election cycle, ranking 64th among major industry groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Ten years earlier, it gave $10.5 million, ranking 26th.
Some Democratic lawmakers have groused that House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is married to a lobbyist who has worked for Philip Morris' parent company. Blunt, who is monitoring the children's health negotiations, says his wife no longer lobbies on tobacco issues.
In a landmark 1998 settlement of many lawsuits, four major tobacco companies agreed to help states pay for smoking-related health care costs. They paid $52.6 billion from 2000 to 2005, the government reported.
In some ways, tobacco's presence on Capitol Hill is literally waning. The Senate Rules Committee recently ordered shops in the Capitol and all Senate office buildings to end cigarette sales by Jan. 1.
Cigarettes are still sold in the Longworth House Office Building. But last January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., banned smoking in the ornate Speaker's Lobby, just off the House floor.
"The days of smoke-filled rooms in the United States Capitol are over," she said, citing the risks of cancer and respiratory diseases.
Other congressional actions could have a far greater impact on the industry. A Senate committee recently approved legislation that would, for the first time, allow federal regulation of cigarettes. The bill, also pending in the House, would require the Food and Drug Administration to restrict tobacco advertising, regulate warning labels and remove hazardous ingredients.
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TameThaTane
Group: Members
Posts: 6300
Joined: May 2005
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Posted on: Nov. 10 2007,4:58 pm |
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Another buck a pack coming.
Still a unbelievable bargain. Cheapest drug fix out there.
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My choice is what I choose to do,
And if I'm causing no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you choose to be,
And if you're causin' no harm, then you're alright with me.
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TameThaTane
Group: Members
Posts: 6300
Joined: May 2005
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Posted on: Nov. 10 2007,11:32 pm |
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LOL What an IDIOT!
A fix is satisfying a drug craving. That's the very definition of smoking a nicotine delivery device short busser. So it's all about YOU. As long as it doesn't affect YOU Mr. selfish.
Nicotine alters the brains reward system and is super mood altering. Thats why addicts smoke em even though they know it's killing them fool.
Honestly, you can't be that brainwashed. Nicotine is a drug and cigs are nicotine delivery devices and people smoke to satisfy that addiction. That's why they're standing outside sucking on fags when it's 20 below.
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My choice is what I choose to do,
And if I'm causing no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you choose to be,
And if you're causin' no harm, then you're alright with me.
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| Post Number: 5
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Febreze
Group: Members
Posts: 56
Joined: Apr. 2007
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2007,12:25 am |
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Sounds good, but lets start taxing pop and coffee. Drug is a drug. Lets say 10 bucks for a 12 pack of pop, and 20 bucks for a large container of coffee. Caffeine is a drug, you want all drugs taxed there you go.
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White Pride
weißer Stolz
Group: Members
Posts: 897
Joined: Jul. 2007
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2007,3:14 am |
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As the report states, cig smokers are often undereducated and less afluent.... which boils down to less earnings for income. So the government's angle is clearly "let's tax the hell out of those that are less well to do and can't afford it already, but we know it's a powerful drug, so they will pay. Gotta keep the poor, poor, so the rich bastards can reap the benefits of the working class! Maybe they won't catch on to what we are doing..." but then again, every mule has his breaking point.
Perhaps instead of taxing the hell out of the addicts, and putting that money toward treatment of the effects, maybe the money would be better spent by forcing the big tobacco to stop ADDING the addictive ingredients, wastes, etc that keep people smoking. Studies have shown that if tobacco was strictly tobacco, with no additives, most people would turn them down, even if previously addicted. For example, about 70% of a cigarette is recycled production waste, created by taking the stems, clippings, etc and making a slurry called "tobacco liquor" and then sprayed onto paper, chopped up, and added to the actual tobacco. This "liquor" is 100 times more addictive and toxic than tobacco. Scary huh?
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Dr. Pride here
I'm an ENGLISH speaking white GERMAN-AMERICAN, and DAMN PROUD OF IT!
What bothers people more... the fact others disagree w/them, or that the others just might be right after all?
If you're being stupid, acting stupid, or just plain stupid, I will not hesitate to let u know!
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| Post Number: 8
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busybee
Group: Members
Posts: 2510
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2007,6:42 am |
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White Pride,
Good post.
Our government pushes their propoganda against illegal drugs (as TTT would put it...the drug war).
Society believes the "evil problems" belong exclusively to manufacturers, dealers and users of illegal drugs.
Now, the government is pushing the evilness onto smokers of a legalized drug and increasing their profit from it.
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| Post Number: 9
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TameThaTane
Group: Members
Posts: 6300
Joined: May 2005
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2007,7:21 am |
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Do you mean the same government that prosecutes a massive "war on drugs" is itself a drug dealer? 
Welcome to Amerika, land of the incarcerated, home of the hypocrites.
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My choice is what I choose to do,
And if I'm causing no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you choose to be,
And if you're causin' no harm, then you're alright with me.
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| Post Number: 10
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Botto 82
Group: Members
Posts: 6293
Joined: Jan. 2005
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Posted on: Nov. 11 2007,8:31 am |
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Throw a buck a gallon gas tax in, and I'm all for it, speaking of things we're addicted to.
And Repo - why did you use an apostrophe in your thread title? Are you one of those uneducated smokers?
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Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.
- Kurt Vonnegut
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Remember boys and girls,