Posted on 11/10/2004 11:48:22 AM PST by Reagan Man
Colorado voters DID raise taxes of smokes, from .20 cents a pack to .80, last week.
MA and CT raised them 4 times, till now it's about 5.00 per pack, NY is about 7.50.
We saw through that kid's claim long ago. The professional anti's are singing their tired old songs.
You should roll your own cigarettes. Sure saves a ton of money. It's been wonderful for me!
Buy them here by mail ($1 shipping for out of state)
Redbird Indian Smoke Shop
Call toll free: 1-866-787-9034
Marlboros are $24.25 a carton. We smoke Viceroy Lights for $17.95.
They take MC and Visa.
They are my local smoke shop and I don't have a stake in it.
Ask for Brent or Beverley (she is the owner and he's her son)
My step-daughter who lives in Anchorage is saving a fortune since her Marlboros are $40+ a carton up there.
Owens and company have put the state in the red to the tune of over 200 million and now he proposes taking our taxes (ie our refunds) to pay for their lack of stewardship.
Can anybody point to a breakdown of the spending in Colorado so we might see where the money is being wasted??
Owens needs to stop spending. The damm republicans got themselves tossed out because they over spent and then turned to the people to bail them out. BS! Pure BS and absolutely inexcusable.
Read this.
At the outset of 2003, Colorado was looking at entering its third straight fiscal year in a serious deficit situation. Available estimates placed the Fiscal Year 2003-04 shortfall at nearly $900 million, or roughly 7 percent of the state's $13.4 billion General Fund budget. The previous year, the shortfall was only slightly less--$850 million. In the words of State Senator Andrew Romanoff (D), Senate Minority Leader, Colorado was mired in "the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression." Yet no relief was anticipated from the revenue side of the ledger; Republican Governor Bill Owens, a fiscal conservative, re-elected by an overwhelming majority in November 2002, pledged to not raise taxes "as long as I am Governor." The Republican-controlled Senate and House were of an identical mindset, and looked again to budget cutting as the primary solution to the state's deficit.
However, Colorado, a traditionally conservative state and currently ranked 43rd among states in total tax collections as a percentage of personal income, has less flexibility to trim spending than most states. Indeed, four laws passed over the prior decade combine to constrain the state's ability both to weather, and address, difficult budget times. First, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), passed by the voters as an amendment to the state constitution in 1992, made all tax increases subject to voter referendum and, therefore, unlikely. In addition, the law limits state government revenues and expenditures to the previous year's levels plus inflation and population growth. Thus, Colorado must refund excess revenue to the taxpayers and cannot retain surpluses in good years to build reserves for future lean times. Furthermore, tying the coming year's expenditures to the previous year's revenue means that the state can not increase spending, even in good years, nor recover from budget cuts enacted during an economic downturn; in essence, once program cuts are made they become the new baseline for future budgeting purposes.
Four laws passed over the prior decade combine to...make it virtually impossible for Colorado policymakers to raise taxes, build a surplus, or rebound from tough economic times.
A second constraint began as a constitutional amendment that passed with all the best intentions. After years of cuts to K-12 education (cuts that were fueled by property tax decreases described below), Coloradans rallied behind the notion that the state needed to catch up. Amendment 23 was passed in November 2000 requiring the state to annually increase spending on per pupil K-12 education by the rate of inflation plus enrollment plus one percent until 2010-11. Hailed as a boon for the state's children, Amendment 23 allowed Colorado to increase spending on K-12 education by 11.4 percent in the two subsequent fiscal years, even while almost all other state departments were cutting their budgets. However, from another perspective, the law has effectively tied the hands of legislators by requiring them to devote ever-increasing proportions of the state's shrinking budget to K-12 education.
Finally, two laws have dramatically limited the amount of revenues the state can collect from property taxes—1982's Gallagher Amendment and 2000's Referendum A (the Senior Homestead Exemption).1 Combined, these laws have made it virtually impossible for Colorado policy makers to raise taxes, build a surplus, or rebound from tough economic times. Amendment 23 (which this year locked in K-12 expenditures at a level accounting for over 43 percent of General Fund spending), coupled with mandatory spending for persons entitled to Medicaid coverage, mean that fully 62 percent of the state's budget is spoken for, leaving less than 40 percent available for discretionary cutting.
my better half does roll his own, I have taken to buying them online from Ky/TN, spokes spirtits .comd and also swithced to a generic brand I like, 14.95 a carton. Marbs etc are 58.00 a carton here in this state
Well, 4 years ago, when Maine raised the cigarette taxes again, putting my More Menthols up to $45-$50 dollars a carton, depending on where we would buy them, I said 'That's it!' Now, for a little under $8.00, I roll a beautiful carton of cigarettes and have been happy as a clam with the savings.
Regan Man I sincerely appreciate your elaboration of the problems that face the Colorado Government.
The last line of the info you provided says that 38% of the budget is available for discretionary cuts. So cut it.
If the cuts affect the lives of the people to a degree that motivates them to be taxed more, then put it to a vote and the people will come through. If it does not affect them enough, then government remains the way we want it here, small.
The government here in Colorado has been charged with living within the means provided. And the elected officials have failed us. We need to turn out more of them.
You might want to check with the rocket scientists in the New York legislature who did exactly what you propose.
They are losing tax revenue hand over fist because they raised the cig taxes so high, and they are furious that we smokers are outfoxing them by buying elsewhere in order to deprive them of our money.
I USED TO make my purchases from the local mom and pop stores in town, but at nearly $7/pack....well, let's just say that there is a very friendly Indian tribe not 35 minutes away that is very happy to sell them to me for about $2/pack.
Guess where I go to buy my cigarettes. (The Indians.)
Guess how much money NY State gets from the purchase. (Zippo. And I damn near dance a jig every time, too.)
Regards,
I agree with you that I would like to see more conservative legislators in place.
But having less capability does not mean having none. Why can't they just cut the discretionary spending??
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