Gangs, organized crime, and terrorists all love 86 because it will give them a new smuggling operation to make $$$ off of.
I just read the prop ... an EXTRA $2.60 per pack - you know I don't feel the same way about smoking around other people as you do...but damn... an extra $2.60 is getting into Boston Tea Party Territory.
I've got to agree with you on this - at that point its not really about just taxation anymore - its back door prohibition and an invitation to smuggling.
And did you see the states "impartial" analysis?
http://www.voterguide.ss.ca.gov/props/prop86/analysis86.html
It talks about every possible impact EXCEPT the impact on the people being taxed.
The crazies that are calif will kill one of their golden gooses if this passes. The socialist state uses ciggy taxes to pay for all kinds of crap and if this passes folks will quit in droves. Then tax revenues will actually fall leaving the politicos to scramble for other ways to steal from the populace.
I live in New Hampshire where the tobacco and alcohol taxes are lower than any other New England state. We have stores on just about every road coming into NH that survive mainly on selling cigs and liquor. The majority of the license plates in the parking lot are not from NH.
And what they don't tell you about 86...it applies to all tobacco products - not just ciggies. The price of cigars and pipe tobacco will almost DOUBLE, throwing most cigar/tobacco stores out of business. So all you folks who enjoy the camaraderie of a good smoke with friends at the "local"...better do what's right here!
$70 a carton????? This means Arnold will be the only one who can afford to smoke! Texas cig taxes are going up a dollar a pack on Jan. 1
The smokers on a fixed income might consider moving. Why stay when there is no job to keep them there?
Does anyone who doesn't smoke actually believe that the politicians will simply do without the tax revenues they've gotten used to getting from cigarettes when they finally force everyone to quit smoking?
Unanticipated consequences ahead bump.