Come April 1, the fed govt is going to start taxing us smokers like never before, with an additional $1.01 per pack. The old fed tax was 39 cents. That is almost tripled. The object of this higher tax: to pay for the new SCHIP program that covers “children” up to, what, age thirty-something for health care insurance.
In the next breath, the fed says that new tax will make adults stop smoking and prevent kids from starting.
So which is it?
Does Uncle Sugar want to pay for the healthcare of people who should be getting jobs and paying for insurance themselves, or does Uncle Sugar want smokers to quit? And if smokers quit, what will the fed govt turn to to make up for the lost revenues to pay for the damn program that shouldn’t be there in the first place?
Hey, just asking.
So, here’s what I’m going to do. Since I refuse to pay a voluntary tax for a program that is completely communist in nature, I will quit on April 1, 2009. I LOOOOVVE to smoke. I quit both times when LG was busy making babies, and I stopped for a pack on the way to the delivery. I quit for a year two years ago until I finally figured out it was the diabetes, not the smoking, that was making me sick. I even quit smoking during boot camp, “A” School, and my first deployment. But I wanted to smoke every single gottammed day during those times. I know I can tough it out, but it ain’t gonna easy. Nicotine is a pain reliever, and I deal with pain every day. But getting anally violated everytime I buy a pack is painful too. So, no thanks.
I have been thinking about this whole “Tea Party” thing in conjuction with the new cig tax. Wouldn’t it have more impact, wouldn’t the “Tea” in “Tea Party” make more sense, if we actually, you know, threw something in the harbor?
Just asking.
In New Jersey they are currently about seven bucks per pack.
Jim - PRS March 15th, 2009
Well, Jim, now they will be eight. So that the schlub who is still living with mommy at age thirty can go see a doctor and have the govt pay for it when he gets a boo-boo on his heinie from sitting on the couch all day.
Mister Liberty Girl
March 15th, 2009
They’ve already started “giving” us our weekly $13 tax cut that Bam-Bam promised. Maybe you could use that to pay the new tax….
Oh, wait, never mind. The $13 bucks isn’t a cut, it’s a “credit”. Which means you have to pay it back. Which means you’d still be paying a ridiculous tax on something that you want.
So. much. hate. We’ve gotta get these assclowns out of office. Sooner rather than later.
jana
March 15th, 2009
Mr. Liberty Girl,
In Boston, approximately 60,000 pounds of tea were dumped into the harbor. That got noticed. A couple of tea bags dipped into a bucket doesn’t hurt anyone and therefore was not noticed. Conservative bloggers covered these parties because we wanted to tell others that these symbolic acts were meaningful and important. Unfortunately they do not appear important to MSM, government officials, and liberals. A couple of trucks full of cigarettes dumped into the river will get noticed. The cigarette company will not appreciate such a loss and will complain. The police will search for those who perpetrated this felony. Liberal media will cover the search for “radical” right. The question remains, are we at the point when law biding, tax paying, community contributing citizens of our country are ready to commit an act of felonious defiance?
vinny
March 15th, 2009
I wonder how one can get tax free tobacco? Might have to start growing my own. American Indians might be able to sell these tax free on the reservations. I am not much of a smoker, but I do appreciate a good cigar with cold beer. The thought of paying so much to Obama for the priviledge of smoking, sure ruins the experience.
vinny
March 15th, 2009
Vinny, go to the head of the class.
Mister Liberty Girl
March 15th, 2009
Now that I think of it, it will be even more that eight bucks per pack. Our *spit* Governor just announced he intention to again raise the tax on cigarettes, cigars, wine, beer and booze.
Nowhere to run.
Jim - PRS March 15th, 2009
So, there is an alternative here. After doing a bit o’ research on teh interwebs, I have decided to start rolling my own. I can make my own for about seven cents a stick and not have to pay punitive taxes. Simon Jester would be proud.
Mister Liberty Girl
March 15th, 2009
So, tobacco itself is not subject to this tax? Then it is time to start rolling your own until the cigarette companies demand action.
vinny
March 15th, 2009
“Wouldn’t it have more impact, wouldn’t the “Tea” in “Tea Party” make more sense, if we actually, you know, threw something in the harbor?”
Hell, if we’re going to start throwing things in the harbor, let’s start with members of Congress…
BobG
March 15th, 2009
today would be a good day to start….”Ides of March.”
vinny
March 15th, 2009
which brings me back to my initial comment. At what point will law biding citizens say enough and abandon their law biding?
vinny
March 15th, 2009
Buy cut tobacco and rolling paper and roll your own smokes. It’s not the gunk in tobacco that give you lung cancer – it’s the freaking glass fibers in the filters that break off and gets into your lungs. THAT’S what give you lung cancer. All that natural stuff in tobacco gets eliminated by the body. I’ve yet to see the human body break down and get rid of glass in fiber form. What happens when a foreign object enters an oyster? A pearl begins to form. The oyster secretes substances that form against the irritant and gets larger the longer it remains inside the oyster. So what happens when a glass fiber gets into your lungs that can’t be gotten rid of? Your cells grow around it. My grandmother smoked self-rolled cigarettes since she was 13 till she was 89 years old. And it wasn’t even the cigarettes that killed her. It was a broken hip; a trip to the hospital for hip surgery and the resultant complications that killed her because the doctors tried to force her to walk the day after the surgery.
George Burns smoked cigars every day till he was 100. No filters on them, right?
If you want to keep smoking, roll your own for pennies a day. Either that, or smoke a pipe. My dad used to smoke apple flavored tobacco and I loved that smell. It smelled a lot better than manufactured cigarettes.
OrangeNeckInNY
March 15th, 2009
Er, it’s fer the chirn?
Cappy
March 15th, 2009
if we’re going to start throwing things in the harbor, let’s start with members of Congress…
Unfortunately, we already know of one senator who can swim…
Mattexian
March 15th, 2009
orange in ny,
Ahm,… you have some wild ideas about cancer and tobacco, and this analogy you make to oysters making pearls is not very useful here. While I enjoy an occasional cigar, and I sure as hell don’t want to contribute more money to a crazy marxist, tobacco is linked with cancer. There are tons of carcinogens in this plant and part of the problem has to do with radiation. Tobacco is a descent alpha particle emitter. While these particles don’t travel far and can essentially be stopped by very little protection, they are very damaging at short distances. So essentially part of the problem with tobacco, is that you are radiating your lungs. Those who chew tobacco and smoke pipes tend to get more throat and mouth cancers. Nevertheless, I doubt that an occasional cigar will kill me, while regular overuse of anything can be harmful. Too much alcohol and you will lose your liver,…too much sugar and you will become a diabetic,…
vinny
March 16th, 2009
I have watched the war on tobacco, now for quite a while. I remember when you used to be able to enjoy a smoke at a restaurant, or a bar. Those days are long past. It is against the law to allow smoking in a bar. How many people are now horrified, and frightened of being exposed to second hand smoke? A lot of people really believe it will kill them. Here in California you are not allowed to smoke on the beach. The fucking beach. This is how the totalitarians on the left steal your freedom: incrementally through “re-education” about the “dangers” of such and such a thing, until a brainwashed public willingly accepts ‘For-your-own-good’ nanny state legislation and punitive taxation. Keep in mind that the Endangered Species Act has been extended to polar bears who are “put at risk” by global warming caused by your every use of energy. Restrictive legislation, and punitive taxation will follow.
Suck it up.
JWM
jwm
March 16th, 2009
Grow your own tobacco.
These folks have varieties that grow as far north as Canada:
http://www.coffinails.com/
Kristopher
March 16th, 2009
@vinny:
Law abiding citizens will abandon the law when they are unable to deny that the system is no longer self correcting.
Also, rolling your own smokes strikes me as the best option out of the lot as getting smokers to quit is just another way the bastards win. And I never could take to letting bullies win.
toaster
March 16th, 2009
Thanks for the info Kristopher. Ought to be able to grow my own (plus extra) here in Virginia.
Hohenheim
March 16th, 2009
Hmmm. I might plant a few rows of tobacco, with the corn (for liquor, you know) and beans. Nice cash crop, it would seem.
B Smith
March 17th, 2009
I have investigated growing tabac here in FL, and with our tiny little .004 of an acre, we really can’t afford the five year recovery time the soil would need. But on the bright side, i just bought everything I need to make 1200 handrolls for 45 bucks, so it’s all good.
Mister Liberty Girl
March 17th, 2009
Just plant one fifth of your garden in tobacco, and the other four fifths a fallow crop.
Then rotate the fifth used for tobacco each year.
Maybe only a few plants at a time … but enough to raise a middle finger.
Kristopher
March 18th, 2009
[...] to the increasingly intrusive and stepping-outside-their-constitutional-limits government, MLG is now rolling his [...]
Liberty Girl » Blog Archive » Mister Liberty Girl Sticks It To The Man
March 23rd, 2009
Yep.time to dig up the Military ID and head over to my local military base. Cigs are tax free there.
Michael March 25th, 2009
Chicago: $11.25/pack. I’m switching over to marijuana (cheaper).
Lando
April 2nd, 2009