Cigarette tax rises $1 a pack on Jan. 1 [TEXAS]

STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU ^ | Dec. 09, 2006 | JOHN MORITZ

[Redbob]

Sure will increase traffic into adjoining states, Louisiana especially!
The difference in TAX being what, $21 a carton???

[xowboy]

Thee giant sucking sound you hear....

[xowboy]

“What the governor said was that if the choice was between taxing poison and taxing property, he’d go with taxing poison,” said Perry spokesman Robert Black"

Isn't this noble of him. Did the idea of cutting spending ever occur to him?

[TXBlair]

Oh blechh. True, I didn't bother reading the article, but sheesh. This kind of taxing-us-into-political-correctness makes me want to take up smoking pronto!

[llevrok]

So let's see. The "concept" is to raise taxes to discourage smoking.

But outlaw tobacco altogether and lose all the taxes?

Blasphemy !

[GOP_Lady]

Look at what's going on in Ohio...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1751157/posts

[highimpact]

Sure will increase traffic into adjoining states, Louisiana especially! The difference in TAX being what, $21 a carton???

Texas: $1.41 a pack, 16th-highest in the nation

Louisiana: 36 cents a pack, 42nd-highest

Not quite. $1.41 - $.36 = 1.05. There's 10 packs in a carton. That's $10.50 per carton in tax. Still worth the drive depending on how much you smoke and how far away you live.

[Arnold Zephel]

...Texas smokers will start paying Jan. 1 as part of the sweeping overhaul of the state’s school finance system...

Wasn't the lottery supposed solve the funding of education problem once and for all? That was what the politicians were saying when they were proposing and promoting the lottery to Texans.

There will never be enough money for education, because it is an easy sell to say we need to increase taxes for the kids. People eat it up.

[Son House]

http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday/

Quote "Tax Freedom Day® will fall on April 26 in 2006, according to the Tax Foundation’s annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes. (Click here to read the full study).

“Tax freedom will come three days later in 2006 than it did in 2005,” said Tax Foundation President Scott A. Hodge, “and fully 10 days later than in 2003 and 2004 when a combination of slow income growth and tax cuts caused Tax Freedom Day to arrive comparatively early, on April 16.”

However, 2006’s Tax Freedom Day is still considerably earlier than it was in 2000, when the economic boom, the tech bubble and higher tax rates pushed tax burdens to a record high, and Tax Freedom Day was postponed until May 3.
" endQuote

And for you smokers, guess when tax freedom day is?

Low tax rates for all,

or we are all going to end up with a tax freedom day in November.

[xowboy]

"That was what the politicians were saying when they were proposing and promoting the...(add your own whatever)
_______________________

I just had a brainstorm--with all of the reforms sweeping the nation how about this:

To every ballot in every state add a choice of "ELEMENATE THIS OFFICE' for each and every office voted upon. Maybe we could, at last, vote them out of office.

[Westlander]

Problem Solved Easily.
http://www.ryocigarette.com/excelplatinum.html

[Cobra64]

Sure will increase traffic into adjoining states...

And the internet.

[WesternPacific]

Wasn't the lottery supposed solve the funding of education problem once and for all

That's what Ma Richards promised

[Westlander]

Michigan began a series of large cigarette tax increases in the 1990s, raising the incentive for illicit trafficking. In 1994 the state raised its 25 cent cigarette tax to 75 cents per pack--a 200 percent hike. Taxes were increased by an additional 50 cents per pack in 2002. The most recent increase took effect July 1, 2005. That was a 75 cents a pack hike, taking Michigan's cigarette tax to its current $2 a pack.

[FFIGHTER]

Grow and roll your own.

[Westlander]

In 2002, two cigarette smugglers were arrested in an FBI sting. The duo were driving vans of illicit cigarettes from North Carolina to Detroit and allegedly using portions of their profits to subsidize Hezbollah, a terrorist organization in Lebanon with possible links to al-Qaida.

An associate of one of those smugglers, a resident of Dearborn, was arrested in a different operation. He pleaded guilty to smuggling as much as $72,000 worth of illicit tobacco each month to Michigan. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, he gave a portion of his profits to an "orphans of martyrs program" run by Hezbollah to help the relatives of those killed in the group's terrorist operations or by its enemies.

[pepsionice]

There is an interesting comparison here.

I live in Germany...the mega tax state. They use taxes not only to raise revenue, but to curb unhealthily lifestyles. So when the Greens came up in power seven years ago...they demanded to head the health ministry as part of that government structure. On their plate...was a tax increase for smokes...a two-part deal...both rather huge increases...over four years.

The tax revenue arm of the government was very happy and supported the measure...more taxes...more revenue. So the two groups pushed through the increase. Two years go by with the first increase, and suddenly the revenue guys announce that they are $500 million less than where they should be for the tax year, with the smokes tax. Chaos and emergency meetings occur...with the revenue guys in a difficult position...the new additional tax is six months away from enacting and they are losing alot of cash.

The Greens are purely happy...so are the anti-smoking nuts. They really believe that the less revenue and less sales indicate that they are finally making a difference.

The revenue guys go out and ask alot of questions. The customs folks finally tell them that there has been a huge increase in people shopping outside of Germany....in Poland, Czech, France, and Luxembourg over the past year. The customs guys are busting folks weekly for bringing in tons of smokes...illegally...more than ever before. By the time the revenue guys add up what the customs folks estimate is legally brought in (four cartons per day per person), and the illegal confiscation...they realize that a huge portion of their taxable assets is gone. They quickly act to halt phase two of the massive tax increase on smokes...which does not become law.

So today...if you live within 75 miles of the Luxembourg border (as I do)...and you need smokes (as my wife does)...then you drive over each quarter (to pick up my four and her four...all for her of course). We save 30 percent over what the German tax guy demands...plus we buy coffee and booze...usually at a 15 percent savings.

So for those folks in Louisiana....I'd put up smoke shops...right by the interstate entrance...and help them poor Texans out. Texas will discover in two years...that sales are down...which they will readily attribute to lower smoking numbers. Don't believe the story for one moment.

[Lionround]

If you live within 75 miles of...almost nowhere in Texas is within 75 miles of anything. Texas is 900 miles across. I used to be in the trucking business and there was a saying, "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and I am still in Texas yet." You can't make it from one side to the other during daylight hours in a day.

I am a smoker and buy my cigarettes from an Indian reservation in NM. I don't pay ANY state taxes.

[Cobra64]

So what does smuggling cigarettes from NC to MI have to do with buying cigarettes on the internet?