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San Francisco's Mayor To Impose Cigarette Butt Fee
All Headline News ^ | May 19, 2009 | Julie Farby

Posted on 05/19/2009 1:47:49 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin

San Francisco, CA (AHN) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is hoping to impose a fee on one of the biggest culprits of streets and sanitation systems across the nation: the cigarette butt.

Newsom's proposal, which is slated to be introduced next month to the San Francisco Boards of Supervisors, would add 33 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes in an effort to offset the $10.7 million the city spends removing discarded butts from the city streets, gutter, and drainpipes.

Despite the likely protests from tobacco companies and smokers, Newsom maintains that the new law will help reduce city costs as well as encourage people to kick the habit.

"In general, fees help reduce the consumption and use of tobacco," Newsom said. "And we think that will have a very beneficial public health component."

San Francisco has already proved to be one of the toughest cities for smokers. Last year the city imposed a ban on the sale of tobacco at drugstores, a restriction that is being challenged in state and federal courts.

But this is not the first time Mayor Newsom has signaled a readiness to legislate health, proposing a fee in 2007 on any large store that sells drinks with high levels of fructose corn syrup.

Newsom said the cigarette butts became a target after the city's annual "little audit" found that cigarette discards make up a quarter of all the trash in the city's public spaces. Considering the city spends some $44 million a year on litter cleanup, and is facing a $500 million deficit for the coming fiscal year, the cigarette tax seemed like a logical conclusion.

"It's not a huge part of the overall budget," the mayor said of the $11 million or so in annual revenue expected to be generated by the fee. "But it's enough to keep street sweepers employed."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; cigarettes; gavinnewsom; newsome; sanfrancisco; taxtheenotme
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Microstamping.


61 posted on 05/19/2009 3:25:58 PM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (To the left the truth looks Right-Wing.)
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To: Churchillspirit

Strange how the British term for ciggies-”fag”-and queers are intersecting in this thread. I hate that they’ve appropriated the word “gay”, I unintentionally wince when the word is used in the old movies that I love. All the old-timers who were chided for bringing up the “slippery slope” IRT homosexuality have turned out to be correct, which I’m sure would give them no satisfaction.


62 posted on 05/19/2009 3:27:33 PM PDT by mrsmel (Put the Gitmo terrorists near Capitol Hill.)
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To: maggief

Ahhhhh, he’s so cute. Isn’t that sweet?


63 posted on 05/19/2009 3:28:32 PM PDT by Conservativegreatgrandma
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To: mrsmel

A butt-pirate is not a man of the sea that steals cigarettes. Hence the term.


64 posted on 05/19/2009 3:28:54 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: maggief
Oh gawd...He can't even give it away.<>sw
65 posted on 05/19/2009 3:31:21 PM PDT by spectre (Spectre's wife)
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To: mrsmel
"...“board you from the stern”..."

OR

--------------------------------------------------


RESISTOR

Swear allegiance to the flag, whatever flag they offer;
Never hint at what you really feel.
Teach the children quietly for, someday, sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we stood still.

Der Elite Møøsënspåånkængrüppen ØberKømmändø (EMØØK)

66 posted on 05/19/2009 3:34:19 PM PDT by BlueLancer (Think Of It As Evolution in Action)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

You can't make this stuff up.

But I noticed they got the wrong butts...

67 posted on 05/19/2009 4:13:35 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: TangoLimaSierra

“Microstamping.”

*SHIVER*


68 posted on 05/19/2009 4:16:59 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Political Junkie Too
I will admit that my pet peeve is watching someone on the freeway toss their butts out the window onto the road instead of dirtying up the ashtrays in their cars.

I support, without qualification, the instant fine on those losers, on the spot. Same on any pedestrian who doesn't carry a personal ashtray. More honest than a blanket tax on everyone. Likely to raise more revenue, besides.

69 posted on 05/19/2009 4:17:27 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Okay, somebody had to say it ...

Butthead.
70 posted on 05/19/2009 6:20:09 PM PDT by Fast Moving Angel (GOP: Stop listening, start doing -- we need new leaders!)
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To: Eric Blair 2084; Madame Dufarge; metesky; elkfersupper; Gabz

lie of the week ping


71 posted on 05/19/2009 7:35:18 PM PDT by The Ghost of Rudy McRomney (Stuck Between Barack and a Hard Place.)
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To: cyclotic
The young skank...I’m sorry, teenage girl who got herself knocked up and spends most of her time laying around, getting fat and hanging around with her friends playing loud music and being generally obnoxious drove off the other day leaving her Coke glass on the street.

I've got one of those next door. But she's in her mid-twenties, has two kids from different guys and drinks all day. Whenever I find a cigarette tossed on my property (lawn or backyard) from her or her friends, I collect all I can find on the block and grind them on her stairs with my shoe. Then her dad comes home and screams at her for the mess. Makes it worth doing the deed. When I find her beer bottles on my lawn, I smash them on their stairs. Animals like this require tough response.

72 posted on 05/19/2009 11:23:41 PM PDT by roadcat
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To: fish hawk
leave the butts for the special Buttcrew.

Hmmm... I wonder if there will be a Butt Pickers Union...

73 posted on 05/19/2009 11:35:27 PM PDT by roamer_1 (It takes a (Kenyan) village to raise an idiot.)
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To: The Ghost of Rudy McRomney
lie of the week ping

Yup.

As long as he's making up numbers, why doesn't he give the breakdown of the other 3/4 of the trash and impose taxes on each of these categories?

Newsom said the cigarette butts became a target after the city's annual "little audit" found that cigarette discards make up a quarter of all the trash in the city's public spaces.

74 posted on 05/20/2009 12:05:20 AM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
My city, state, county and federal governments spend at least 90% of what I send them on stuff I find bothersome and offensive.

I think I'll assess a government waste fee on them or just go John Galt.

75 posted on 05/20/2009 7:58:17 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: Political Junkie Too
I, on the other hand, love the lovely shower of sparks when I toss a butt overboard.

It's like a miniature Independence Day celebration.

76 posted on 05/20/2009 8:02:21 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: Publius6961
I support, without qualification, the instant fine on those losers, on the spot. Same on any pedestrian who doesn't carry a personal ashtray. More honest than a blanket tax on everyone. Likely to raise more revenue, besides.

I support mandatory plastic bag head coverings to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

77 posted on 05/20/2009 8:07:18 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: elkfersupper

LOL


78 posted on 05/20/2009 9:30:23 PM PDT by The Ghost of Rudy McRomney (Stuck Between Barack and a Hard Place.)
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To: elkfersupper
If you can make it bounce in the shape of a smiley face, you'd be onto something.

-PJ

79 posted on 05/20/2009 10:23:56 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (This just in... Voting Republican is a Terrorist act!)
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