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."
Microstamping.
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.
Ahhhhh, he’s so cute. Isn’t that sweet?
A butt-pirate is not a man of the sea that steals cigarettes. Hence the term.
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)
You can't make this stuff up.
But I noticed they got the wrong butts...
“Microstamping.”
*SHIVER*
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.
lie of the week ping
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.
Hmmm... I wonder if there will be a Butt Pickers Union...
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.
I think I'll assess a government waste fee on them or just go John Galt.
It's like a miniature Independence Day celebration.
I support mandatory plastic bag head coverings to capture carbon dioxide emissions.
LOL
-PJ
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