Maine at risk of losing millions in tobacco money

United Pro Smoker's Newsletter ^ | April 2, 2006

[SheLion]

AUGUSTA, Maine --Maine state government could lose $8.8 million due to a ruling favoring the country's largest tobacco companies.

An independent arbiter has agreed with tobacco companies that terms of the 1998 settlement between states and the tobacco companies caused them to lose market share in the United States.

Under the terms of the deal, the tobacco companies can make their case that the $6.5 billion they owe states on April 17 should be reduced by about $1.2 billion. The March 28 finding by the arbiter puts at risk about $8.8 million in Maine.

But before the tobacco companies can reduce this year's payment, they have to show on a state-by-state basis that the terms of the settlement haven't been met by the states. Officials in Maine say the state has met terms of the settlement.

Maine was among the 46 states that agreed in 1998 not to sue cigarette makers for the public health harm caused by their products, in exchange for annual payments of about $6.5 billion.

Maine has received about $448 million from the settlement since 1999 and is due to receive about $50 million this year.

The loss of $8.8 million could create legal and budgetary problems for the state next year because $4.45 million for the Fund for a Healthy Maine, which administers the tobacco settlement money, was included in the state's supplemental budget that was approved last week.

Carol Kelly, director of the Maine Coalition on Smoking or Health, said it's not clear whether the tobacco companies actually intend to withhold the money and, if they do, how the states go about defending themselves.

"No one has actually done this before," Kelly said. "There will be a way to show that Maine is doing everything it's supposed to do. At that point, we get the money back, with interest."

Chuck Dow, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General's Office, agreed, saying the path forward is unclear and depends on what the tobacco companies do. He said the state will fight vigorously to keep its share of the tobacco money.

[SheLion]

I have been living for this!  This $448 million paid into the state of Maine is paid for by Maine smokers who pay taxes on cigarettes!

And if this money stops coming into Maine, guess who loses their cushy jobs?  The Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine!  Tickles me to no end.

We won't have to put up with their phony teenaged ads on TV anymore, and the race car teams and tracks around the state will be without a sponsor.  Tough.  Maine smokers are more then fed up with all the control, bans and restrictions put upon us.  I know I for one won't feel one pang of pain for the state after what they have done to 25-30% of Maine people who smoke. 

Serves the state right!  They say they want a Tobacco Free Maine, yet they can't balance their damn budget without the taxes on Maine cigarettes.  Don't let the lawmakers fool you!  This money is being paid solely by Maine smokers.  Not the Government and NOT Big Tobacco. 

[SheLion]

   $2.00 taxes on one pack of cigarettes!

[sgtbono2002]

Legal;ised extortion . Thats what this tobacco payout is.

[Kakaze]

SheLion, I had the pleasure of talking to a social worker / abuse councilor here this past weekend. ( just a social meeting folks and shes really a nice lady )

She was expousing how fantastic indiana's tobacco campaign has been and how her work within the state legislator had helped lead to these "improvements'. When I asked her who's taxes she was going to raise after she had eliminated smokers who now pay these taxes for the children.........she was at a loss, never had thought past that. In fact she said well there are other sin taxes we can use, there are alot of health issues we can use to reclaim that money and "of course make everyone healthier".

I asked what she meant i.e. alcohol or fast food or what? With a smile she said that I would be amazed at how the indiana legislator was going to RESTRUCTURE our lives in the next 2-3 years. She was absolutely beaming

All I could think was thank god I'm moving to Texas.

[SheLion]

Legal;ised extortion . Thats what this tobacco payout is.

Yep!  And this cartoon says it all!

[SheLion]

She was expousing how fantastic indiana's tobacco campaign has been and how her work within the state legislator had helped lead to these "improvements'. When I asked her who's taxes she was going to raise after she had eliminated smokers who now pay these taxes for the children.........she was at a loss, never had thought past that. In fact she said well there are other sin taxes we can use, there are alot of health issues we can use to reclaim that money and "of course make everyone healthier".

See?  The Tobacco Settlement created monsters within each state and the coalitions for a tobacco free everything are being paid their salary's by smokers tax dollars.  Should everyone quit smoking, these idiots would be out of a job.

And so many people still do not realize that smokers who pay taxes on cigarettes are flipping the bill for everything.  Not the government and NOT Big Tobacco.  But the smokers!

I asked what she meant i.e. alcohol or fast food or what? With a smile she said that I would be amazed at how the indiana legislator was going to RESTRUCTURE our lives in the next 2-3 years. She was absolutely beaming

Wonder what the heck she meant by that?!

All I could think was thank god I'm moving to Texas.

Texas is a good state.  You should be happy there.  Except for this illegal alien business.  Always something, I guess.

[Kakaze]

" Wonder what the heck she meant by that?! "

I took it to mean that anything "fun" was on the table for restriction LOL

Seriously, this is a well educated genuinely nice woman, who happens to think she can legislate health. She also seems to be a bit smitten with the power of it all too, and shes not even elected just acting as a volunteer aid.

[SheLion]

Maine Rights:
A public yahoo group for anyone who wants to talk about the Maine smoking ban situation.

Maine Smokers Rights
Check it out if you plan on vacationing in Maine and if you are a smoker.

Outside decks for smokers in northern Maine just won't cut it!
Bravo's Mexican Restaurant in Augusta is one outlet that built a patio specially to accommodate smokers.

Taverns brace for smoking ban in different ways.

Tobacco Taxes

Maine's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $1.000
Maine's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $95,006,000

Sales tax on tobacco products: 5.00%

Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000

 

Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine

Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Maine to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 50.8

Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Maine to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 84.1

Master Settlement Agreement Payments To Date

$182,122,188 has been paid to Maine since the Master Settlement Agreement was signed on November 23, 1998.

[SheLion]

Seriously, this is a well educated genuinely nice woman, who happens to think she can legislate health. She also seems to be a bit smitten with the power of it all too, and shes not even elected just acting as a volunteer aid.

Boy, I tell you, you put some people in a power seat and they go nuts. 

[wita]

Not a smoker, but neither am I an anti smoking Nazi. Anyone with half a brain, knows that the famous tobacco settlement which promised billions of dollars to states, could not be funded by profits alone.

The number of smokers decreasing and the market share and profits of tobacco companies shrinking or at best stabilized, and even if that were not the case, what company in their right mind thinks it could sustain that kind of unprofitable theft for any length of time without screaming like a stuck pig or going under, or offshore.

I thought the whole case against the tobacco companies was simply piling on by attorneys general and sympathetic courts. It smelled of a railroad job and about as unconstitutional as anything I had seen. The only question was who is next in line for destruction.

[caver]

The only result I see in Indiana is all those stupid television andradio commercials. That's a lot of money down the drain. Millions from that stupid tobacco settlement could have been spent on other things. The only groups coming out ahead are the lawyers, advertisers and the media.

[SheLion]

The number of smokers decreasing and the market share and profits of tobacco companies shrinking or at best stabilized, and even if that were not the case, what company in their right mind thinks it could sustain that kind of unprofitable theft for any length of time without screaming like a stuck pig or going under, or offshore.

I thought the whole case against the tobacco companies was simply piling on by attorneys general and sympathetic courts. It smelled of a railroad job and about as unconstitutional as anything I had seen. The only question was who is next in line for destruction.

Well, when tax revenue's shrink in a state, right away the lawmakers spit all over themselves telling us that people have quit smoking how wonderful!

WRONG!  Smokers are going across the borders, and still ordering off the Net and/or rolling their own.  It's the American Way to Shop Cheap, and when Maine raised the cigarette tax dollars up to $2.00 a PACK (mind boggling isn't it!) smokers are finding cheaper and better ways to buy cigarettes and not paying into the state coffers anymore.

Maine done shot the goose that laid their golden eggs.  Now they have to live with it.

And you are right:  Maine will have to target someone else to make up for this tremendous loss of money should this come true.  And if Maine is truly using the tax money for what it was intended, it must be behind closed doors because we sure haven't heard about it.  Outside of funding 5 race car teams and race tracks in Maine and giving the money to a little old lady in Ellsworth to build a garden in the center of town, and those tacky teenaged ads on TV, that's about all that is visible.  Where is the rest of the money going?

Some have even called the Tobacco Help Line, and only get a recording.  So now one is home there, either!

[SheLion]

The only result I see in Indiana is all those stupid television andradio commercials. That's a lot of money down the drain. Millions from that stupid tobacco settlement could have been spent on other things. The only groups coming out ahead are the lawyers, advertisers and the media.

Yes. Maine's Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine put these very tacky anti-smoking ads on TV using what looks to be retarded teenagers.  Below is one picture of the teens that work for Partners, and looks like a few need to go on a DIET!

[Vectorian]

I don't know what all the fuss is about - smokers are junkies so the govt can add whatever tax they want, you'll still need to buy your fix. They got you over a barrel.

[demkicker]

I'm a non smoker and love this news!

[sure_fine]

puff ping

[browardchad]

Below is one picture of the teens that work for Partners, and looks like a few need to go on a DIET!

Shhhh! The fast food industry is probably the next cash cow -- to "structure" the lives of ex-smokers who have become obese as the result of giving up "evil" tobacco.

After that they'll go after alchoholic beverages, for all those driven to drink by socialism. Then there's vitamin supplements, evil SUV's, insecticides (because insects deserve to live as much as humans)...yes, the opportunities for state "stucturing" of its citizens is endless!

Social engineers of the world, rejoice, for as Hillary has said (if I may paraphrase), "We'll have to take things away from you (our subjects) for your own good."

[SheLion]

I don't know what all the fuss is about - smokers are junkies so the govt can add whatever tax they want, you'll still need to buy your fix. They got you over a barrel.

I don't like your tone.  Smokers are NOT junkies.  Cigarettes are LEGAL!  Drugs are NOT!

And don't worry, smokers are finding a way around those big cigarette taxes, so the state government's are only hurting themselves.  And don't close your wallet just yet.  When the state isn't collecting cigarette tax dollar's anymore, you are going to have to dig deep to make up for the loss. heh!

[SheLion]

I'm a non smoker and love this news!

So do I!  Get rid of a lot of pukes working at the state house and the Maine board of Health.  LOL!

[SheLion]

After that they'll go after alchoholic beverages, for all those driven to drink by socialism. Then there's vitamin supplements, evil SUV's, insecticides (because insects deserve to live as much as humans)...yes, the opportunities for state "stucturing" of its citizens is endless!

Social engineers of the world, rejoice, for as Hillary has said (if I may paraphrase), "We'll have to take things away from you (our subjects) for your own good."

Oh yes!  Our idiot lawmakers will make sure they keep the money flowing so they can keep their pork barrel projects going.