I just read in the local paper that our very concerned govt wnats to raise the tax another .69 to 1.00 per pack, of course I'm sure this will stop underage smoking and make everyone that smokes quite.

so whats the averagre price of smokes now anyway?

course i think this is still just a bunch of crap anyway. u want to smoke and we all know its bad for you so go ahead its your life

They are about 3.00  to 4.00 a pack. They know it is very hard to quite so they'll just keep taxing them knowing that smokers will keep buying them.

What I want to know is, if they finally "succeed" in getting everyone to stop smoking:

1) What are they going to do about the lost revenue? (Think about it - fewer people are smoking, they [i]have[/i] to raise the taxes to maintain the income stream!  Talk about killing the goose!  In this case they're strangling it slowly.)

2) Are they going to subsidize (more than they already do) the tobacco farmers who can't sell their worthless crops except out of the country?  Where does [i]that[/i] money come from?

Only a small percentage will quit (barring them charging $20 a pack) so I think it's just a squeeze to see how much they can get away with ... $5.77 here in Sammamish, WA

Can you say "Bullet Tax"! Or how about "Twinkie Tax"! Or they can always raise the Beer Tax.

To all those who advocate increasing the cigarette tax...fair is fair!

Sorry guy!  It's needed for the children!

they keep raising the tax to make up for lost revenue.
they want to make more of it up with the twinkie/moon pie tax.

it's for the...oh, never mind.

A neighbor of mine was bitching about how she got some at a duty-free for $10, but has to pay $40 here at CostCo.

The_Beer_Slayer, just learn to brew your own.  It's easy to do, and is a lot cheaper than store-bought no matter how good you make it (unless you go off the deep end and buy an all-stainless equipment ensemble).

Twinkie tax? Never happen. Cops would be rioting in protest all over the country..[}:)]

It's a Klinton thing. They raised taxes over and over the tobacco companies raised their price to offset the 368 billion dollar settlement that they agreed on (to take care of sick smokers and spare our dirt poor government the cost). Then the states mostly have a big brouhaha over what they are going to do with their share of the money. Meanwhile back at the ranch think about this- If tobacco is forced out of biz where will the rest of the settlement money come from? Laid off cig workers will draw bens off the gov too. Now fot the final question- If smoking and all tobacco use is in fact abolished and everyone starts living to be 103, just exactly who in the hell is going to pay for their health care medicare medicaid etc?  If everyone lives forever our country will go broke think about it

While I personally think smoking is the dumbest thing anyone can do, a can of Bugle cigarette tobacco and a pack of rolling papers is still pretty damn cheap last time I was at the drug store.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...