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The Truth About Smoking: A Government Extortion Racket
CNSNews.com Commentary from the National Anxiety Center ^ | March 20, 2002 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 03/20/2002 5:50:27 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen

The utter wickedness of the attack on the tobacco industry, the naked grab for a new stream of funding by the states that banded together, claiming that they wanted to reduce the health impacts of smoking in order to offset the costs of Medicare for those affected by the habit, is being exposed for the sham it always was.

It turns out, according to a survey by the Investor Responsibility Research Center, that many of the states that received billions of dollars in the national tobacco settlement, not only are not investing much in campaigns to reduce smoking, but are actually investing in tobacco industry stocks!

The settlement created the "largest new revenue streams in state history" according to the IRRC, insuring that 46 states would receive $206 billion from tobacco companies over the next 25 years as the supposed "reimbursement" for the tobacco-related medical expenses of the Medicare program. Presumably, if you could get fewer people to smoke, that would be a good thing, reducing those expenses, but the reality is that less smoking means less state revenue.

A new study from the Council of State Governments suggests that falling cigarette consumption will result in a 20 percent loss of the income projected. Through 2010, states will get $14 billion less from Big Tobacco. That's the last thing they want!

The settlement was never about getting people to smoke less. It was nothing more than an extortion scheme by the states and the people who end up paying the bill are those who, by their own free choice, want to smoke. It's not about healthier people. It was and is about the MONEY.

If they truly wanted healthier people, the states would have banned tobacco use, just as this nation once banned alcohol, but banning things people want as a lifestyle choice is idiotic. The result of Prohibition was the creation of organized crime syndicates because people wanted to drink. And people want to smoke. Just as people can and do choose to stop smoking.

So, governments, having generally overspent their taxpayer's money, simply impose new taxes. In New Jersey, the Governor is contemplating a $1.30 per pack tax! In New York, the tax per pack is $1.50, in Washington it's $1.45, in Connecticut, it's $1.10. And it's all obscene!

Government as a huge extortion racket is, in too many cases, what government has become. Everything requires a license, registration, a waiting period, certification, inspections, and on, and on, and on. This is supposed to be a nation where we have personal liberty, but so long as we are taxed for our free choice of what we want to consume, the smoking, drinking or eating habits we want to pursue, that concept is meaningless.

The one thing the federal government and the States have never contemplated is actually spending less; reducing their budgets so they are not dependent on tobacco industry extortion schemes. This constant need to spend more explains why we are seeing more and more States accepting gambling revenues. Once it was only Nevada. Then it was Nevada and New Jersey. Now gambling will go nationwide because people want to gamble. The income stream for the States is irresistible.

Granted the States need income to function, to provide the services needed by their citizens, but deliberately punishing segments of their population for lighting up a cigarette is as un-American as you can get. In the end, it is all a lie and it is a lie whose purpose is to get money.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs", posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.
Alan Caruba


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: caruba; pufflist
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1 posted on 03/20/2002 5:50:27 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Kinda like 95% of what both state and federal governments do. If people really added up all the blatant and hidden taxes they pay they'd realize were are already more slaves than we are free and it's getting worse.
2 posted on 03/20/2002 5:57:00 AM PST by ridensm
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To: Stand Watch Listen
I'll bet they are really drooling over the prospect of fast food money. What's next, let's go after the soda pop bottlers for tooth decay, this moniter is hurting my sons eyes -that should be actionable. Hell, the "revenue enhancement" possibilities are endless
3 posted on 03/20/2002 6:00:24 AM PST by steve50
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To: steve50
Shhh! Let's not give 'em any ideas.
4 posted on 03/20/2002 6:03:05 AM PST by rdb3
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To: Puff_list
idx.
5 posted on 03/20/2002 6:05:19 AM PST by StriperSniper
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To: Stand Watch Listen
The settlement was never about getting people to smoke less. It was nothing more than an extortion scheme by the states and the people who end up paying the bill are those who, by their own free choice, want to smoke. It's not about healthier people. It was and is about the MONEY.

Yep. A friend of mine who went to take a junior faculty position at the U of Miami told me that his research was to have been funded from the tobacco settlement money. The state had pledged to devote a certain amount of it to research into health impacts of smoking. It didn't take them very long to go back on their word and say, oh, we're going to devote a certain percentage of the interest we get on the settlement money. It didn't take long for them to tell the university, "Oh, wait. We're not getting as much in interest as we expected we would; so you have to refund what we gave you and which you've already used to hire people, start up labs, and start doing research; and in addition, in order to get more money for research, you'll have to show some publications on the results by the end of the first year--Now we know that it takes that long to get a lab and cell lines established and the protocols written and approved by institutional review boards for human and/or animal research and that it's unreasonable to expect publications, but we're just stupid, greedy bureaucrats who wouldn't know scientific research from our own butts and want to have as much of this money as possible to buy favors with in order to ensure our continued position in this sinecure called "public service"."
6 posted on 03/20/2002 6:13:38 AM PST by aruanan
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Yep, Rush was right. Now to see if the national media will cover this, probably not.
7 posted on 03/20/2002 6:38:08 AM PST by blackbart1
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To: Stand Watch Listen
If they ever get to the truth about the recession, they'll find that it was caused by this tax. You don't put that heavy of a tax on 20% of the population and leave much for disposable income. If I ever come across the black market, you can bet that's where I'll get mine. A crook is a crook and see no reason to reward the government for their tyranny.
8 posted on 03/20/2002 6:39:09 AM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: All
This is supposed to be a nation where we have personal liberty, but so long as we are taxed for our free choice of what we want to consume, the smoking, drinking or eating habits we want to pursue, that concept is meaningless.

This is the most important line in the entire article...

No one knows what freedom is anymore...

It is no longer taught, certainly no longer practiced, and every move that the government makes is to continualy reduce what little freedom individuals have left...

The sheep are slaves...

Whether or not you sheep realize that you are slaves is irrelevent to the reality that you are...

May you one day become aware of the chains that hang around your conscious neck...

9 posted on 03/20/2002 6:42:00 AM PST by Ferris
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To: Stand Watch Listen
The result of Prohibition was the creation of organized crime syndicates because people wanted to drink.

I find it hard to believe that organized crime syndicates did not exist before 1920-ish. Especially since I've read reports of organized crime being involved in loan sharking, gambling, organized labor and prostitution all the way back to the mid 1800’s for sure and probably earlier.

10 posted on 03/20/2002 6:55:11 AM PST by thatsnotnice
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Most states have a coalition under the Health Care system called Partners for a Tobacco Free Everything! But they keep raising the cigarette taxes and can't balance budgets without our money. They can't have both!!!
11 posted on 03/20/2002 6:56:39 AM PST by SheLion
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To: Stand Watch Listen
I lived in Colorado in the early '90's and there was quite a stir when it was discovered that the Colorado chapter of the American Cancer Society had money invested in the tobacco industry. There is no limit to the hypocrisy!
12 posted on 03/20/2002 6:57:03 AM PST by scholar
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To: scholar
This billion dollar shakedown was a turning point for me as to the thuggery used by our government.
13 posted on 03/20/2002 7:00:46 AM PST by conserve-it
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To: ridensm;steve50;rdb3;StriperSniper;aruanan;blackbart1;Lion's Cub;Ferris;thatsnotnice;SheLion...
FYI... Related Articles
House anti-terror bill would tap tobacco money
Source:Star Tribune; Published:March 19, 2002;
Author: Conrad deFiebre

NRA Too Strong? So Was Big Tobacco
Source: Million Mom March;Published: March 15, 2002;
Author:Dick Dahl

New attacks against Big Tobacco
Source: WorldNetDaily.com; Published:March 15, 2002;
Author:Jon Dougherty

States Catch More Heat for Handling of Tobacco Settlements
Source: CNSNews;Published: MArch 14, 2002;
Author: Matt Pyeatt

Tobacco-Settlement Payoff Shrinking
Source:Washinton Papapapost

States Investing Their Tobacco Settlements In Tobacco Stocks
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: March 12, 2002;
Author: Matt Pyeatt

Tobacco settlement and conflicting goals
Source: TownHall.com; Published: March 12, 2002;
Author: Bruce Bartlett

UN Study Calls For Higher Tobacco Taxes
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: February 28, 2002;
Author: Jim Burns

A Sign of Things to Come? Expanding the Tobacco Industry Lawsuits Against All Industry
Source: Capitalism Magazine; Published:February 18, 2002;
Author: Ralph R. Reiland

AN INSIDER'S ACCOUNT OF TOBACCO CONTROL IN CANADA
Source: FORCES Canada; Published: February 14, 2002;Author: Luc Martial


14 posted on 03/20/2002 7:12:34 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Hypocrites..... Alberta raised their tobacco taxes again yesterday, a pack of 25, is now $9.
15 posted on 03/20/2002 8:35:57 AM PST by Great Dane
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To: Ferris
Whether or not you sheep realize that you are slaves is irrelevent to the reality that you are... May you one day become aware of the chains that hang around your conscious neck...

Correct me if I am wrong, I am thinking you are talking about smokers being slaves to tobacco, if that be the case, I would like to remind you that it isn't just smoking.
The powers that be, are seriously thinking about taxing junk food....... you see, they are running out of smokers, and has to start feeding their dependency from new sinners....... THE OBESE. You may ask, who comes next....... maybe you. ?

16 posted on 03/20/2002 8:46:05 AM PST by Great Dane
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To: Great Dane
Correct me if I am wrong, I am thinking you are talking about smokers being slaves to tobacco, if that be the case, I would like to remind you that it isn't just smoking.

Actually, no, I'm talking about conscious humans being slaves to the government that controls most of your life, extorts money from you by force and fraud, and gives you nothing in return except creating problems where none previously existed...

Which naturally, needs to be solved by more government...

The result is you have less and less freedom...

The powers that be, are seriously thinking about taxing junk food....... you see, they are running out of smokers, and has to start feeding their dependency from new sinners....... THE OBESE. You may ask, who comes next....... maybe you. ?

You are correct...

17 posted on 03/20/2002 9:15:35 AM PST by Ferris
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To: Ferris
#17.......... As I said, I stand corrected, my apology for misunderstanding you, read as intended...... you are right, the trouble is, they pick on minorities so even if we revolted, we don't have the numbers to stop the insanity, that will change when they are forced to pick on obese people, as they are in the mojority.

Subject on talk radio the other day "FAT TAX," you should have heard the screams.

18 posted on 03/20/2002 9:38:43 AM PST by Great Dane
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To: Stand Watch Listen; All
Re my previous post about Colorado--I worked for the Colorado Dept. of Health in the cancer registry which was funded by (believe it or not) the U.S. Dept. of Energy. If anyone is interested about that I can give more info later.

My point here however,is that the Colorado Dept. of Health in 1995 was pushing an initiative for a $0.50 tax on a pack of cigarettes. My fellow employees were rubbing their greedy little hands together, assuming that they would get nice salary raises.

At the time I left Colorado, there were at least three law suits against the health dept. because they had been pushing this initiative on government time, which we all know is against the law. Wish I knew how it all turned out as I left Colorado six years ago.

19 posted on 03/20/2002 10:28:27 AM PST by scholar
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To: scholar
. because they had been pushing this initiative on government time, which we all know is against the law

Ah, but scholar, in the "fight against the merchants of death" [gag, barf] perversion and corruption of the law is not only expected, it's consciously sought. Much like the People's Republik of Kalifornia's Families First Commission, aka Rob Reiner's Jackpot, which used government employees to defeat Prop 10. Reiner had the balls to stand up in a meeting and scream at Ned Roscoe, "You're trying to steal my money!" For some reason THAT wasn't reported in the press and the effort to rescind Prop 10 fell, along with any hope of fairness and justice for California smokers.

20 posted on 03/20/2002 11:06:26 AM PST by Max McGarrity
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