Posted on 04/01/2009 11:10:42 AM PDT by pissant
STAFF REPORT
It may be April Fools Day, but this is no joke.
A 62-cent increase in cigarette tax begins today.
President Barack Obama signed a bill in February to increase taxes on tobacco products in an effort to help expand a federal health-care program for children, according to philipmorrisusa.com. Philip Morris USA is the largest tobacco company in the U.S.
The increase, which will raise taxes on cigarettes from 39 cents per pack to $1.01 per pack, is expected to raise $32.8 billion for the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. The extra tax will fund health care for about 11 million children nationwide.
The tax on chewing tobacco will rise from 19.5 cents per pound to 50 cents per pound. Other products such as cigars and smokeless tobacco will also be affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at vindy.com ...
Miss King on smoking:
It's this: I think suicide qua suicide is weak and shameful, but maybe, if I just keep smoking, I can hasten my exit from this Walpurgisnacht called America and escape the mephitic cultural collapse that Nice-Nelly conservatism is powerless to stop.
This is probably wishful thinking in view of my family's medical history, but it points up another benefit of cigarettes we no longer hear about: consolation. Even the word is gone from the language now, but it was what came through in World War II newsreels showing weary soldiers and refugees lighting up. In their most despairing moments a cigarette was all they had, and increasingly I feel the same way.
There goes my chance at Keynote 2000, even if I work on my perkiness and arrange to rent a baby.
The 2000 reference suggests that this was written in 1999 or 2000, but no luck finding the entire original text.
I would like to contribute to that fund.
8th day on nicotine gum. So far, so good. Forty bucks for 170 pieces, about six pieces a day so far.
I hear you. 3rd day on nicotine lozenges here. They taste like solidified bong water, but I'm determined. I know at least 6 other people that have had enough. Not because of health reasons, they just refuse to give the government any more money.
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