[oh8eleven]

At $10.00 each or $20.00 daily it comes to $600.00 per month or $7,200 annually.
What absolutely slays me is the number of pooooooooor people who smoke. Can't afford to feed or cloth their kids (or themselves), but have no problem buying smokes.

[Gay State Conservative]

What absolutely slays me is the number of pooooooooor people who smoke.

Stats clearly show that the lower you are on the country's socio-economic ladder the more likely you are to smoke (tobacco).

To give a practical example...I worked for decades at a major (well known) hospital.When I started about half of the physicians,and two-thirds of the nurses,with whom I worked smoked.When I left a few years back *none* of the physicians,and no more than a quarter of the nurses,smoked.

Of course the health care factor probably played a role but it's also true that physicians are at the top of that ladder and nurses make pretty good money as well.

[luvbach1]

What absolutely slays me is the number of pooooooooor people who smoke.

You make a good point with that. Also, anyone who has traveled abroad has to have noticed the huge (compared to the US) percentage of people who smoke. Especially true in Asian countries. Good that they like American cigarettes.

[Vince Ferrer]

Cigarette taxes apre the most regressive taxes in the US. One study found poor people paid 25% of their entire income in cigarette taxes. All to pay for the bicycle trails in lilly white neighborhoods.