Posted on 07/10/2002 8:35:32 AM PDT by RCW2001
Edited on 05/07/2004 7:12:33 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
LANSING -- A pack of cigarettes will cost 50 cents more in Michigan under a budget bailout given final approval Tuesday by the state Senate.
Gov. John Engler said he will sign the bill.
The higher tax will take effect Aug. 1 and give Michigan the nation's fifth-highest cigarette tax at $1.25 per pack. The price of a pack would rise to about $4.60.
(Excerpt) Read more at freep.com ...
Cigarette taxes will jump from 24 cents per pack to 70 cents per pack on July 1, then to 79 cents on Jan. 1, 2003, as part of the Kansas Legislature's $252 million tax package
we want parity with new york....
I'm with ya here...I'm so close to telling the gop to "go to hell" and take the 'let em crash and burn' position, it isn't even funny. Less than a month away from the primaries...
Not necessarily. It is pretty widely acknowledged that Ralph Nader cost Algore the election. Did this bother Nader at all? Nope. His comment was "Maybe the next time the conservative wing of the Democratic party will pay a little more attention to the progressive wing." Do you think that Nader moved the Democrats to the right or to the left with his manuver? I think he shifted the democrats even further to the left.
If there is a third party (libertarian, constitution party, etc.) vote for them and then when the RINO's cry about losing the election, (and BTW the democrats won't be measurably worse than the RINO's in office) you can rest assured that they will be shifted back more to the conservative side.
In addition it's idiotic for politicians to think that Michigan smokers aren't going to find a way around the tax - I see a lot of imports from smoke shops on indian reservations. Of course what politicians lack in intelligence they more than make up for in arrogance, so you can't really expect them to grasp this. After all why bother to learn anything when you already know everything?
Why Let YOU STATE Soak You For Discriminatory Tobacco Taxes?
Low Prices, High Quality And No Taxes Are As Close And Easy As Your Telephone, Fax, Mailbox Or Computer!
This might help some of you!!
Whenever there is a state budget deficit, lawmakers tend to look for the quickest way out. This session of the Kansas Legislature is no different: The proposed cigarette tax increase of 65 cents per pack is attractive for lawmakers and difficult to oppose philosophically. But it creates a new set of legal issues for the state.
Washington increased taxes by 60 cents per pack ($14.20 per carton) on Jan. 1. Since that time, increasing numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens have routinely bootlegged cigarettes across the border from Idaho and Oregon, where taxes run only $2.80 per carton and $6.80 per carton, respectively.
On April 1, Washington intercepted 3,200 cartons of untaxed cigarettes being smuggled into the state. That one-day seizure represents more than $46,000 in lost cigarette taxes. Washington's Liquor Control Board, which oversees tobacco enforcement, estimates that it loses $105 million a year to cigarette-tax evasion.
Nearly 40 percent of Kansans live within easy driving distance of Missouri and Oklahoma, so the same thing could happen here. It's an even stickier problem in Kansas City, where people live in one state and work in the other. Missouri's current tobacco tax is only 17 cents, compared with Kansas' current tax of 24 cents. Further, Missouri's sales tax on food is three cents less than Kansas'. If the tobacco tax increases to 89 cents, Kansans in bordering counties will have an extra reason to put a Missouri stop on their shopping lists.
Kansas Food Dealers Association members operate grocery stores touching virtually every Kansas community. They sell tobacco products primarily as a customer convenience. But a 65-cent tax increase on tobacco will make even the most loyal customers turn to other avenues - either across state lines or through the Internet.
This was a letter to the editor in a local paper, written before the Kansas cig tax escalated to 89 cents a pack. In nearby Missouri it is still 17 cents.
Thanks!!
If anyone believes that, they're smoking the wrong stuff.
Senate rejects tax increase on cigarettes (Michigan)
Posted on 05/31/2002 12:51 PM Eastern by Dan from Michigan
Senate rejects tax increase on cigarettes
Lawmakers must find other ways to balance budget
By Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The state Senate overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to raise the cigarette tax Thursday, hours after Gov. John Engler threw his clout behind it.
The 29-8 vote against a 25-cents per pack tobacco tax increase means Engler and lawmakers will have to scramble next week to find other ways to balance the state budget.
"There are no good choices. We've come to the end of our rope. Get ready for the budget cuts that are bound to come," said Senate Finance Committee Chair Joanne Emmons, R-Big Rapids, who voted in favor of the cigarette tax boost.
Thursday morning, Engler blessed an increase in the state excise tax on cigarettes in an effort to raise more than $150 million annually toward erasing a deficit of $300 million-plus in each of the next two years.
"A cigarette tax is good for the health of Michigan and the health of the budget," Engler said. "I think people would overwhelmingly support this over other options."
But the majority of senators didn't see it that way. "The right approach to this budget problem is cutting spending," said Sen. Valde Garcia, R-St. Johns.
Democrats voted "no," saying it's a levy on those least able to afford it. Many preferred delaying rollbacks in the state income and business taxes, which would pump more than $200 million into the budget.
The state last raised the cigarette tax -- by 50 cents a pack -- in 1994, to help pay for public schools as part of the Proposal A finance shift. In 1988, the tax was 25 cents; in 1960 it was just 6 cents.
The prospect of another increase irritated David Damman, 40, a laser operator from Sterling Heights. "A luxury tax is one thing, but this is ridiculous," said Damman, who smokes two packs of Marlboros a day. "Cigarettes already cost too much, especially when taxes are 70 percent of the cost."
Actually, a pack of cigarettes costs $3.50-$4.50, and taxes account for a little more than one-third of that amount.
States sinking in red ink are increasingly turning to the cigarette tax to bail them out, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tobacco lobbyists who have been fighting the trend across the country say it's unfair to single out smokers to bolster dwindling budgets. And local store owners say additional taxes hurt their sales.
But public health advocates say a cigarette tax hike would save lives.
"Anytime you raise the price of tobacco, you get a decline in smoking, particularly among youth," said Jim Moore, program director for the American Lung Association of Michigan.
Senate rejects tax increase on cigarettes (Michigan)
This was in May. So what the heck happened??!!!!
O, what irony that would be! A Kennedy evading a tax that he helped to create!
I give Cheaper Cigs credit for trying, but they hired a lousy political consulting firm, and they needed some of the big boys to lend a hand but help never arrived.
Hi Dave,
Just a note to let you know how disappointed I am in the spineless way our elected officials "balanced" the state budget -- especially in regard to the increase in cigarette taxes. Here's what I'm going to do about it (and will encourage others to do likewise):
I will no longer buy cigarettes in Illinois -- I will make the trip to Indiana every couple of weeks to stock up. What's more, I'll be filling up the tank on my SUV over there each time I go to save some additional bucks. As long as I'm there, I might as well do some other shopping as well -- and perhaps stop by one of their casinos for a little gaming.
In short, I will do whatever it takes to minimize the tax revenues I generate for Illinois.
Maybe, one day, you guys will wake up and figure out you're killing the golden goose.
You sure have it right when you said they "shot the goose that laid the golden egg."
Really pathetic what our lawmakers have done to us, and continue doing.
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