Posted on 08/10/2005 8:27:03 PM PDT by Incorrigible
Just another tax to fund ever growing government!
Then you have states like New Jersey where disgraced Governor McGreevey basically flipped the tobacco annuity into a single payout and thus there's practically nothing now.
I don't like to be around people who are smoking at the time but I have nothing against smokers. My view is that the tobacco companies should fund an insurance program and pay out according to those diagnosed with a smoking related illness. The only role for the government is as an insurance regulator which every state has. Smokers wouldn't be dependant on the government to pay their healthcare but that would mean the state would have little justification for high cigarette taxes. This would probably wind up LOWERING the prices of cigarettes since the state gets a big chunk of that price per pack.
If anyone knows of any info about when trhe American public became generally aware of cigarettes causing cancer, I'd appreciate a url. I mention this because someone said this was known in the '40s but the companies kept it secret, yet the doctor (who just died) who discovered the link in Britain did so in the 50's, and the US surgeon general announced it in 1964, I believe.
Why is it unsurprising that politicians spend any money they can get their grubby little hands on?
The former governor of American Samoa supposedly sold the settlement awarded to the territory for a fractional lump sum.
That money is currently unaccounted for. He was a Democrat. Died of a heart attack.
His Lt. Governor is currently following in his footsteps, and exceeding the corruption of his predecessor. The Lt. Governor was recently elected to the governorship in his own right, and he continues his march to ruin American Samoa.
Pray the FBI is onto him.
http://www.txtwriter.com/Onscience/Articles/smokingcancer2.html
Hope this helps! It was the first hit I found, but if you want more, let me know and I'll FReepmail you some more, or post them on the thread, either way.
Thank very much. I've been searching for awhile and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, but this looks good. Much appreciated.
You're welcome. :)
Some day soon, I will need that medical care. If the tax money that I have invested (as a smoker) is not used for my own personal health care, then there will be a retribution.
Today, politicians think that a tobacco tax is free money, that they can spend in any way that they wish. Once they are no longer serving in an elected position, they falsely consider themselves as free and clear.
Some of us make a point of remembering the elected individuals responsible, and even 20 years later, these people can be tracked down.
While someone is serving in an elected position, that office will be respected. Once these people return to civilian life, they will be held accountable for their actions.
I don't have a URL, but I know that my father (who smoked) called them "coffin nails" and "cancer sticks" as early as the '40s. The warning notes showed up on packs around 1960.
It was never a secret.
"Between 10,000 and 13,000 people die early in New Jersey each year from tobacco," Downs said. "Before they die, they wrack up huge health care costs. The numbers are so high they become incomprehensible to the average person."
They also lose all their accumulated earnings into the social security trust fund.
These are people who have paid thousands of dollars for health care which they never received in return.
These are also people who have nothing else to loose.
When I was a little kid, I thought "Why would I put smoke where air is supposed to go?" I didn 't need The Government to tell me smoking was something I didn't want to pursue. Now I eat too much red meat--I guess we're going to damn the meatpacking industry for not coming to my house and regulating my diet?
Someone please tell me which those are. Non smokers get lung cancer, throat cancer, emphasyma, and heart disease. Why? Not smoking didn't prevent them from getting it. Were they cheated? If non smokers get thse things how then can we KNOW that tobacco causes them?
I gather this is a list of some of the earliest studies done on the links between cancer and cigarettes...
1. Doll R, Hill AB. A Study of the Aetiology of Carcinoma of the Lung. British Medical Journal 1952;2:1271-1286.
2. Hammond EC, Horn D. Smoking and Death Rates- Report on Forty-Four Months of Follow-up of 187,783 Men. Journal of the American Medical .Association1958;166:1159-72, 1294-1308.
3. Auerbach O , Stout AP, Hammond EC, Garfinkle L. Changes in bronchial epithelium in relation to cigarette smoking and in relation to lung cancer. New Enland J Med August 10, 1961;265:253-67.
OK, promise I won't post any more unless you ask, but this seemed to be more "official" than the link I sent you, kwim? :)
They should at least be required to put a warning on your steak.
Sorry, "Sin taxes" don't count!
Despite all the taxes I've paid on beer, I still can't expect the government to pay my gym fees to rid me of my beer belly!
"These are people who have paid thousands of dollars for health care which they never received in return."
I was gonna mention that too, but refrained since the lost future SS benefits overrides whatever the state pays to those w/o insurance.
There is no excuse by states/cities to put an additional $3.00 of taxes to each pack of cigarettes. For a two-pack-a-day smoker this amounts to almost $2,200 per year per person, or about $30,000 for a ten-year period, if you take into account future tax levies and imputed lost interest. Multiply that for a husband and wife smokers and you can drive a family into bankruptcy.
Ping.
You mess with my personal life, I will mess with your personal life.
This month, my taxes were increased by $821 per year for tobacco related health costs. When I need health care in the future, I demand that my $821 be returned by the State.
I have never asked for, or will accept, health care finances that I have not already personally invested in over the last 30 years.
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