Posted on 07/08/2005 6:21:56 AM PDT by SheLion
Taxing the smoke you breathe
Coffee Flavored Coffee by Peter Cook
Despite my deeply unpleasant experiences with tobacco, though, I think the legislature's plan to raise taxes on cigarettes is cynical and wrong. The state is preparing to raise the tax on cigarettes by 100 percent - from $1 to $2 per pack. For lawmakers and the Baldacci administration, this plan is a double-win situation.
Quoted in the Portland Press Herald, Baldacci spokesman Lynn Kippax said, "The cigarette tax is a horse of a different color. It does more than just raise revenue. It helps keep people from taking up smoking, which can become a lifetime addiction."
Maybe I don't understand all of the details here, but why are they raising cigarette taxes to help balance the budget if they ultimately want to prevent smoking? Won't the latter goal harm the efficacy of the former?
The government needs to make up its mind about smoking. Is it a societal evil that needs to be eradicated, or a cash cow to be exploited? For years, Maine has joined other states in condemning tobacco while benefiting from the tax revenues that come from those who use it. If the Baldacci administration and the legislature really want to take a principled stand against tobacco, it would pass a law to make its sale, use and import illegal in the state of Maine.
Instead, the government has embarked on a campaign to demonize smokers while simultaneously depending on them for income. As I said before, I happen to like restaurants where there is no smoke in the air. But I think the legislature was wrong to remove the right of business owners and customers to make that determination for themselves. Restaurants and bars are private industries, not public utilities.
When restaurants still had smoking sections, many of the establishments put smokers in the corner or in a separate room. Unless you were stuck near the room, one usually didn't smell the smoke. Now, thanks to the nanny-state meddling of the Maine Legislature, I get to smell smoke walking into and coming out of a restaurant, as smokers now congregate in the parking lot. If the law was meant to protect me from secondhand smoke, it's doing a poor job of it.
My major problem with the anti-smoking rationale for the tax hike is that I just do not believe taxation policy should be used for social engineering projects. It's not the state's job to discourage personal behavior just because those in the government happen to disagree with it or believe it to be risky. I would suggest taxing other risky behaviors, but don't want to give the legislature any ideas.
The simple fact of the matter is that smoking is legal.
It's time for the members of the legislature and the governor to stand on conviction and either make smoking illegal, or stop pretending to care about the health of its smoking citizens while profiting from their addiction.
Peter Cook is a graduate of the University of Maine with degrees in journalism and public administration. His daily rants on the state of the nation can be found on the Web at www.slublog.com
I think that's exactly right. And that's also why I'm fairly certain that nothing will be done to stop this until legislatures take one step too far.
By then, it may very well be too late to stop or reverse the process.
Great article and great cartoon.
Looking at that cartoon just infuriates me.
After what I've been through this past week directly related to the abuse of alcohol I see alcohol as the demon,not cigarettes.
Mears, check out this article in the Boston.Com. Talking about alcohol. The state is now going after drinkers.
Eric Laverriere, 25, of Portland, Maine, was taken into protective custody by Waltham police and locked in a cell for nine hours until the effects of the alcohol wore off.
Legal experts said his lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Boston, is the first to challenge a state law allowing police to lock up drunk people against their will.
You should have added (For Now) at the bottom of that bumper sticker. Lest you forget...They're working on it.
I see alcohol as the demon,not cigarettes.
BUMP!
Yes, I know.
Maine already passed a law that Foster parents aren't allowed to smoke in their own vehicle 24 hours prior to having the Foster kids inside. I just shake my head.
Demonize it, then take the money.
It's an age old ploy of rulers.
France did it with the Knights Templar order in the Middle Ages.
"Templars were targeted by Philip the Fair, King of France, who was desperately in need of money. On October 13, 1307, most of the order’s members in France were arrested and imprisoned. Charges ranged from sodomy to witchcraft to desecration of the crucifix. Philip’s propaganda master, William of Nogaret, effectively used very old political and religious devices to turn public opinion thoroughly against the Templars."
The King then confiscated the wealth of the order.
http://www.adambennington.com/military_orders/templars.html
Question: How is it physically possible for ANY type of smoke to last for 24 hours?? Just more harrassment.
Your stepfather was right and thank God he obtained sobriety or he wouldn't have lived as long as he did or if he had lived a long,drinking life he would have ruined the lives for many others as my family member did.
I live right next to Waltham and they don't fool around---never have.
I will be curious to see how this case comes out. A lot of alcoholics will be very frightened if they think they can be PC'd for getting drunk at home.
Haha! Tickles me to no end, Mears.
And who said "they wouldn't be next?"
They claim that the smoke will rub off onto the kiddies from the seats. Unreal! Makes me wonder what Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine has been smoking!
Let us translate this into another area of 'risky behaviour'.
Un-protected sex, Homosexual activity, teenage promiscuity - all of these things are 'risky behaviours' - yet the many legislatures work hard to promote the Gay Community, raise Gay awareness, and attempt to convince Americans 'it's okay to be Gay'. Un-protected sex, and teenage promiscuity is on the rise, despite the 'fight' against it. These are areas that should be addressed by parents - yet many school systems and charitable organizations have sought to hand out condoms rather than teach abstinance and purity.
Because Tobacco is a tangible product,lobbyists do not have a voice as loud as the Alcohol manufacturers, and because the general public has bought the lies of 'studies' regarding secondhand smoke - the smokers are paying, the non-smokers are paying - and the legislatures are burning a two-ended candle.
Hopefully, one day soon, the candle will burn to the middle, as a smoker who has been defiled and punished takes the system into his or her own hands and challenges the laws and taxes being pushed daily.
I was taught in Political Science in High School - " your right to punch me in the nose stops where my nose begins". That should apply to the tobacco fight as well. If smokers want to smoke a LEGAL substance - allow them, in designated areas that are NOT compromising comfort (please do not make me stand outside in the rain in 20 degree weather), and, if tobacco and this behaviour is to be taxed - better take notice of other ones and start taxing them as well.
How well do you think a "Gay" tax would go over in this country? They want equality? Give them the equality of the smokers. How about those apples?
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