Posted on 07/30/2017 8:41:21 AM PDT by Drango
Are we maybe forgetting that the government taxes the hell out of cigarettes? (Ditto alcohol and gambling)
As a nurse, I have never seen a pot smoker die of lung cancer. I have seen plenty of smokers die of lung cancer, including my parents.
I think the smokers who get lung cancer and die early saves the system a lot of money, and I seem to recall a study years ago verifying that.
The problem is the smokers who don’t get lung cancer but have COPD from their smoking habit, and linger. They cost money to take care of.
Obesity is another huge issue.
One of our deceased FReepers/ johnny used to grow his own tobacco plants in N. Tx. Bypassed Uncle Sham’s tax intrusion. The old boy used to have some great gardening tips too. He’s missed much on The Weekly Gardening thread here on Fridays.
will they also increase rates for homosexuals due to HIV risk?
A tax to the govt only helps the govt.
My husband went to his PCP, and they asked him if he smoked. My husband smokes a cigar about once a month in the summer at parties, none in the winter. 3 cigars a year. They put down on his computerized chart that he was a smoker,and we starting getting phone calls from the nurses at his HMO to enlist him in smoking cessation programs.He got furious, called his PCP to tell them to remove it from his chart. The phone calls and mailings stopped. Lesson learned- don’t tell your doctor if you smoke cigars infrequently. They will lump you with the cigarette addicted smokers.
At least the smokers have skin in the game due to taxes.
How about taxing the gang bangers?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-gun-violence-medical-costs-met-20170720-story.html
Smokers aren’t the problem when it comes to health care. Go to any nursing home, and you won’t find many, if any smokers, it’s all the people with the nice pink lungs who keep breathing into their 90’s and beyond. Smokers generally don’t collect their Social Security for very long, and many don’t collect it at all.
I am not a smoker, but FAR greater costs are incurred from alcohol abuse (bans don’t work) and male homosexual behavior.
Yea! More tax money for fedzilla.
Make them sign an affidavit they understand that smoking is bad and assume all cost and responsiblity.
They can’t ever use any assistance later when they get sick
How much more do fat Americans eating their way to full blown type 2 diabetes? Suspect it is a fair amount more than smoking. Exponentially.
It’s just going to further encourage the black market.
Tobacco: the new marijuana.
So what did the states do with that fast and free cash after they paid off their crony attorneys?
It should be easy to determine the effect of higher taxes on rates of tobacco use. Each state also levies a tobacco tax — and the rates vary widely. If higher taxes = less tobacco consumption; then, smoking rates should vary inversely with the levels of state taxation.
Here’s a link to a table of state tobacco-tax rates:
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097.pdf
(BTW, FWIW, the rates here in Canada are higher than the combined federal & state taxes in any U.S. state. A lot higher.)
And liberals have endorsed smoking marijuana, which is about as bad though in some different ways to the tar in cigarette smoke, so we still have smokers starting the pipeline to long term health costs, just smoking something other than tobacco.
Did you talk to Bill Clinton?
[[the fifteen percent of the adult population which impose an unnecessary $322 billion dollar a year cost on all taxpayers,]]
That’s it? Illegals- a scant % of the population, cost us between $400 and $600 billion per year
[[It is a short step until they start telling you what food you can eat]]
We are already there- they are taxing sodas higher now-
[[I’LL BETCHA ILLEGAL ALIENS COST OUR HEATH CARE SYSTEM MORE.. WHAT ABOUT BIRTHS OF ANCHOR BABIES?]]
A report soem 10 or more years ago had the figure at between $400 and $600 billion dollars per year- I’m sure it’s close to a trillion dollars a year now- Every single year- and soem folks complain about a one time fee of $20 billion dollar for a border wall?
Oh come on now! It’s far more efficient from a control standpoint to create a handout and then blame people’s personal choices for its unsustainable cost increases so you can regulate them more. Sheesh dude, freedom’s overrated... /s
Wow.... speechless.
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