[Drango]

Take a pack-a-day smoker who makes minimum wage. In the most expensive state in the U.S. - right now, New York - a pack-a-day smoker will spend 30 percent of their income on cigarettes throughout the year. So high taxes can create financial burdens and they can crowd out other expenditures.

YIKES!

[Drango]

You've got this addictive behavior. It's very hard to stop. It can be expensive to stop, as a matter of fact. You have people who pay this high state tax but don't have a lot of income so they end up claiming a federal benefit.

Double yikes.

[Seruzawa]

Those dammed human beings just wont behave the way the selfappointed masters want.

[Steely Tom]

Heroin and meth addicts spend about 90% of their income on their addiction.

[Freedom4US]

These guys are reg’lar Sherlock Holmes, no?

They raise tobacco taxes to confiscatory levels, and then sort of allow that gee, people have less money for food? Ya think? What a bunch of wankers.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

The Money Shot:
State and local jurisdictions that increase cigarette taxes see more households begin to apply for food stamps.

[Bob434]

Jerry Brown of California thinks gasoline is also subject to a ‘sin tax’ as he just announced higher taxes on it to ‘save the planet’- He’s shooting for a ‘carbon free society’ because he thinks it’;s a sin to burn fossil fuels

[Buckeye McFrog]

Government-caused starvation.

[fruser1]

You could probably end excise taxes on booze and smokes by taking it to court and demonstrating it disproportionately affects minorities.

p.s. What does someone who smokes and drinks a lot do on the weekend? - suck a few butts and get sh*tfaced.

[SandRat]

“The Hidden Brain”, pounds like the title of a Class B, Horror Film from the 1960 period.

[SkyDancer]

Smokers would rather buy that pack of smokes for $8 than a steak for $6.

[Gen.Blather]

I bought a used Lincoln Mark 8 with working air, new Michelins and a gorgeous interior with just 100k miles on it for $2200. My renter last year spent over $2600 for cigarettes. He is terrified about his health since a close relative died recently from COPT. He wants to quit and I hooked him up with the county health department, which has a free program. Also, they have a 24 hour smokers hotline. The whole time we were talking, he lit one cigarette from the butt of another. The chances he will quit, at age 34, are about zero. He desperately needs to spend the money on other necessities, like getting his license back from two DUI’s, a vehicle and God only knows what the insurance will cost. The guy will be permanently poor. (No, I doubt the programs will work. You can see it in his eyes.)

Incidentally, I found out from a world traveler that US market cigarettes are illegal in the EU because they have addition enhancers. The same brand cigarette, say, Marlboro, in Europe will taste different. “A US smoker wouldn’t like them,” he said.

[Vlad The Inhaler]

More money wasted on a study to find out what even the most simple minded can figure for themselves.

How many dope smokers, crack heads, alcoholics and other addicts do you personally know who gave up their addictions because of a price increase?

[jobim]

Of course this is obvious.

Food bank usage correlates with recipient purchase of booze, drugs, tobacco.

[cgbg]

Liberal love taxes that penalize the poor and the near poor.

Why—because that is the kind of tax that creates new tax-payers!

[Seaplaner]

As a resolute non-smoker, who worked a career in public health, I have always opposed excessive taxes on tobacco for the simple reason that the higher costs literally take food from poor kids' mouths.

Cost does not make a dent in the craving, it only means that family budget cuts must be elsewhere made.

Sad that Dems ruin so many lives with their social experiments.

[Theodore R.]

For a smoker, his first expense is tobacco, not anything else.

[Godebert]

People are just too damn lazy to roll their own. A pound of tobacco (The Good Stuff) and three cartons of tubes runs about $30, which is about $10 per carton.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.....

[Trillian]

Democrats love giving out free cigarettes during elections.

[Springman]

Bump for later.