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How about the sin taxes the poor pay's


15 years ago 0 278 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
A lot of packs here in Manitoba cost around 12-13 bucks (25 cigs).  When cigs go up in price here, smokers grumble for a day or two, and then the pay it.  No real big stink about it, and smokers know why they are paying more for their smoking (as the government pays most of the healthcare cost)...  That is just Manitobans, nothing really gets us all that mad, we let a lot slide.

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 4/3/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 57
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 855
Amount Saved: $427.50
Life Gained:
Days: 6 Hrs: 5 Mins: 13 Seconds: 50

15 years ago 0 363 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
The new taxes Obama approved are the reason I'm on this site. I am so tired of government, whether it be local, state or federal thinking that raising taxes is the only recourse they have to fix a problem. I work for the City of Columbus, Ohio, I see first hand the ignorant thinking that goes on behind closed doors. But hey, I'm not college educated, what do I know?? Heres a scenario for you that happened just a few weeks ago. 1. It's costing us too much to have Parks and Recs cut our grass. 2. I suggest we pull a man off the floor once a week to cut it and use Parks and Recs equipment since we're the ones who fix it. 3. No we can't do that, there are safety issues involved. 4. I said, don't we all cut grass at home? How are there safety issues? 5. We're going to have a study done to see if it's cheaper to have Prairie grass put in, if it is, we're going to have all this grass pulled up and have Prairie grass planted. 6. All I can do is shake my head in disbelief. And the city wonders why its broke? But hey, they're asking for 1/2% income tax increase in August and threatening to lay off 300 police officers if they don't get it to pass. The sad part is, my job might rely on that tax passing, and I have no say in it. I live outside the city, but since I work in the city, I have to pay that income tax, plus the one where I live, plus the school district levy. Talk about your taxation without representation.
 
       This is our local government at work, can you imagine the knuckle heads in higher governments and there bright ideas. Money means nothing to them. Back to sin taxes, they're just what they say they are, a SIN!

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 4/2/2009
Smoke-Free Days: 57
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 2,280
Amount Saved: $684.00
Life Gained:
Days: 8 Hrs: 13 Mins: 17 Seconds: 9

  • Quit Meter

    $37,790.03

    Amount Saved

  • Quit Meter

    Days: 993 Hours: 21

    Minutes: 52 Seconds: 27

    Life Gained

  • Quit Meter

    5537

    Smoke Free Days

  • Quit Meter

    166,110

    Cigarettes Not Smoked

15 years ago 0 1843 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
I heard on a tv talk show a couple months ago that people were upset that President Obama was breaking his promise of not taxing people who made under $250k a year.  Because he approved the cigarette tax, critics were saying that he broke his promise since most smokers earned under $250k a year (I think they said it was like less than 5% of smokers earned over $250k a year), the average 2 pack a day smoker was now paying $735 ($1 a pack x 2 packs a  day x 365 days).  There was a ton of analysis.  What jumped out at me that if Dad and Mom made minimum wage and both smoked 2 packs a day, then they were paying approximately 10% of their pay towards the new sin tax, not counting the $5 a pack they were already paying for the smokes.
 
I remember about 10 years ago when Cleveland imposed a "sin tax" on cigarettes to help pay the cost of Jacob's Field.  Smokers didn't mind pay the extra money until they learned that smoking wasn't allowed in the new baseball stadium.  I wonder how many smokers "smoked more" to help pay for a new stadium, only to find out they were banned from smoking in it?
 
I just heard on the news today that the owners of the Columbus Blue Jackets are lobbying for a sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes to help the city buy the arena they play in.  Budweiser has a brewery here, and they are against this, as are so many bars and restaurants.  With the economy as bad as it, and with alcohol and food sales down, they are all afraid that their sales will slip if this sin tax is passed.  Again, they want to go after the smokers to pay for something, and this time they are going after the beer drinkers too!
 
One last thing I saw about a month ago.  So many studies have said that smoking costs companies extra money to pay for health insurance.  A new study said that smoking actually reduced health insurance costs because smoking kills so many people, that a non smoker might live to 80 and a smoker might only live until 60.  So if you smoke, you might actually save your company money since they won't have to pay for your health insurance for as many years.
 
I need to stop watching tv and listening to news reports as it all drives me crazy!  LOL! 

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 8/20/2008
Smoke-Free Days: 282
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 11,280
Amount Saved: $2,256.00
Life Gained:
Days: 42 Hrs: 4 Mins: 3 Seconds: 1

15 years ago 0 955 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Great question Stickin To It!
 
Members, let's hear your opinion on the taxes smokers pay!
 
 
Sarah, Health Educator
  • Quit Meter

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15 years ago 0 1985 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
That is the smoke tax, how do you feel about paying so much tax money just because you smoke?
My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/22/2006
Smoke-Free Days: 1223
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 22,014
Amount Saved: $7,154.55
Life Gained:
Days: 223 Hrs: 2 Mins: 41 Seconds: 59

15 years ago 0 1985 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
 

Man at work

 

John Boy: You quit smoking didn’t you?  Wasn’t about two years ago?

 

Dennis: Yes and more like three.

 

John Boy: How do you feel?

 

Dennis: How do you mean?

 

John Boy: I mean, like are you okay?

 

Dennis: I hadn’t given that a notion for quite a spell

 

John Boy: Good, because I’m aiming to quit. It’s good to know that I can quit as well.

 

Dennis: yep, you can

 

And I suspect he is going to do it. If not for health and other reasons, how about all those sin taxes that pay to have the privilege of enjoying something that other’s don’t enjoy.  Why the sin tax here in Washington State went up about a buck and before I quit it went up a buck and ten.  So now a pack of 20 is over $8.  That is the liberal mess that our society has come too. Tax the unfortunate through sin taxes and tax the rich for creating jobs.
 
How do you feel that  the cigarrette need to be gone?

My Milage:

My Quit Date: 1/22/2006
Smoke-Free Days: 1223
Cigarettes Not Smoked: 22,014
Amount Saved: $7,154.55
Life Gained:
Days: 223 Hrs: 2 Mins: 41 Seconds: 25


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