If you smoke cigarettes, thank you very
much. If you smoke a lot of cigarettes, many more thanks. If you don't smoke,
please start.
The little known fact these days is that
we would be in deep, deep weeds if it were not for smokers. With less than 25% of
the population in the United States admitted smokers, we really need the tax
revenue on cigarettes. Why? Because $1.01 of every pack of cigarettes goes into
the Federal coffers. In Minnesota for example, the tax on the pack of smokes is
now $1.59. If you happen to live in Rhode Island, you will pay over $3.00/pack
for state taxes. Many states, as well as the Federal Government under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
Program, use this tax money to pay for much needed health programs.
Because I am slow on government type
thinking at times, I am consumed by this conundrum. We raise the price of a pack
of cigarettes to discourage consumption. Yet we need the tax dollars to pay for
certain health programs. If the price for a pack of smokes went up to $10 or $20
and nobody bought them anymore, what happens to the programs that are dependent
on the tax funding? In other words, to use the current buzz word, this is not a
sustainable program.
Before I finish, a bit of true confession.
I am a former smoker. I started smoking in Navy Boot Camp in 1969. It was almost
an expectation to smoke. When there was a break in the action we were told to
take a "coke and smoke". When I got overseas, the price on a pack of smokes was
17 cents; for those in Viet Nam it was 13 cents. It was easy to start and
hard to stop. It took me until I was 31 and my first daughter was born before I
was able to quit. Anybody who would start today at over $5 a pack, knowing the numerous health
risks, is not a clear thinker. Plain and simple, not a clear thinker.
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