States Brace for Cigarette Backlash/

Yahoo News ^ | 13 July 2002 | DAVID CRARY

[yoe]

Please add me to your "puff" list SheLion.

I really like this from poster #50 One could make a case that it is the state governments that are criminal by unfair taxation. Therefore, buying state taxed cigarettes makes one an accessory to crime." There just may be something to this along the line of "confiscatory taxation".

[poet]

Well, I did notice that 60% of the public is willing to give up their liberty for security. Those of us that are aware of its future dangers do not bother me, it's those in the 60%. We have to make them aware that Section 802 must be rescinded and soon.

[Lois]

I heard of a site for cheap cigs, something to do with the indians.

[steve50]

I switched to a cheaper brand for awhile, they taste as good as the high end brands. My problem is with the taxation which is the same on them, so I broke down and bought a machine. I've come to the conclusion it's immoral to feed our masters anymore than we have to.

[metesky]

Can any one think of a way to get back at the non smokers who voted these penalties on their smoking fellow citizens?

Higher taxes on white wine and brie. Turnabout is fairplay.

[Lois]

In 1998, after happily smoking for 47 years, I stopped buying "store boughts" and rolled my own. The reason, I didn't want to be sending money off to Klinton. I then quit, cold turkey. Then, as now, I see the feds as the big taxers. The states are small potatoes. As I see it, anything over .50 for a pack of smokes is over taxation, period. Do I miss smoking, of course I do. I'm the one hanging around the outside of buildings, breathing in all that delicious second hand smoke. Love the smell of tobacco burning, have since I was 4. My parents didn't smoke, but my uncles did, and when they came to visit, I would sit and just enjoy.

[metesky]

"Most vendors aren't turning over their customer list, so the Internet is becoming a hotbed of tax evasion," said Kurt Ribisl, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.

"We're definitely unprepared right now — we don't have the tools to get the states their proper revenue," he said. "You need federal legislation, because a patchwork approach from individual states is going to bog down."

At least this spittle flecked, bootlicking academic knows who he works for.

[WaterDragon]

No, no....please let me know when you stop seeing virulent criticism posted regularly in news forums on the internet, in newspapers and on tv. That would be absolute proof of your concerns.

[Great Dane]

#46... You have a point.

[Great Dane]

Hi Dutchess, it has been a long time.

Yeah, even for non-smokers it's hard to take isn't it, it's like smoking was the worst thing this old world has to offer, and they will come after fast food, junk food and the rest of it, they have already started.

[Great Dane]

The tobacco companies didn't get drained, the got permission to pass the fines on to the consumer..... and the did.
If they had stood up for their legal product, this wouldn't keep happening, it is happening because the industry rolled over.

[Khepera]

Guess we will have to start growing our own.

[Alas Babylon!]

The idea is to force the plant to put all it's energy into producing leaves, not offspring. The same thing (pinching off flower buds) is done to basil, spinach, etc; those plants that we grow for the leaves. Unfortunately, once a plant starts to go to seed, less energy goes to the leaves, and they become bitter.

[Alas Babylon!]

Growing your own tobacco is perfectly legal. I don't know about growing tobacco for selling, though. I think it's highly regulated in most locations. Then again, I've heard tobacco growers are some of the most highly paid to not grow their product or to keep it small per government edict. Maybe us FReepers with land should start being tobacco growers. Promise the government not to grow tobacco for sale, collect the payments for it, and grow just enough for yourself and friends!

[Great Dane]

the flowers out (cut the stalk off) after they bloom.

I thought you had to nip the buds [pardon the pun} before they blommed.

[american colleen]

Please add me to the *smoking* ping list. Thanks!

[Great Dane]

since I was 4. My parents didn't smoke, but my uncles did, and when they came to visit, I would sit and just enjoy.

All that second hand smoke........ and you're still alive. ? :-}

[NC_Libertarian]

Welcome to the Tobacco War. With the ATF on the case, you can all rest assured - victory will be ours. They'll certainly deliver as well as the DEA has.

[SheLion]

Please add me to the *smoking* ping list. Thanks!

Gotcha added!!! Thanks!!!

[gunnedah]

This is nothing more than governments insatiable thirst for money.They probably need to start taxing water and then develope a meter to attach to each individual and tax the air we breath.
The government should be stripped of all its power other than for National Defense and Health.
They are all crooks and the only difference in one party and the other is in name only.
I have just read from WND I believe it was and the article came from the Washington Post that all of those liberal Democrats that are raising hell about corporate America crawled their cheap lazy as-es- on Corporate Jets right after voting yesterday on legislation clamping down on corporate abuses and flew off to Nantucket,Mass to figure other ways of screwing the working public in America.All of the abuse,fraud and lying in America starts with our elected officials and filters on down.
Jesse Jackson got his cue from politics,when you have a national platform to speak from if you holler loud enough they will give you anything you want to keep from being exposed themselves.