Are Cigarette Taxes Out Of Control?

[Eriech]

about what I expected.

You have me really curious now. What do you think I REALLY meant. Did you expect me to make something up?

 

[sKiTzo]

How much does the average smoker end up costing Medicare? How much does lung cancer cost Medicare and Medicaid? Easily several hundred thousand dollars per case. What about emphysema? Likely tens of thousands of dollars per case per year. So yes, taxes on cigarettes are very high, but smokers also place a huge financial burden on taxpayers.

Our pos government pisses away billions to foreign aid, diverting these billions away from domestic needs. That's what smokers are paying for. You really think Medicaid gets any of it?

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Our pos government pisses away billions to foreign aid, diverting these billions away from domestic needs. That's what smokers are paying for. You really think Medicaid gets any of it?

Foreign aid spending is not even 1% of Medicare and Medicaid spending.

 

[Noodlegawd]

Americans are paying a 400% mark-up in taxes for cigarettes these days. I understand the concept of luxury taxes, but at what point does luxury tax become unfair tax gouging?

Yes, they are out of control, but not out of control enough.

 

[dockside]

There's also passive smoking so they harm others as well.
There's a reason smoking inside public buildings is banned.

Yes, tax them.

And, as someone else wrote above, they increase the cost of health care for EVERYONE.

 

[Ginger Ale]

They should overly tax anything that is obviously bad for you. I wish we could switch too a consumption tax and get rid of the IRS. Make the stupid people think twice about doing a stupid thing.

I get that but.....a lot of the food Americans eat are full of dangerous for health additives that are not permitted in other countries. So, how about a tax on those businesses that use them in our food. Maybe as a deterrent? I mean, how far should we go with this line of thought?

 

[sub1028]

We don't want Americans to smoke but we sure want to export them to China.

So!??

 

[CLAX1911]

Quit smoking now. Not getting the message yet? We will raise cig taxes again. The taxes no where near pay for the cost to society that smoking tabaco does. You are hooked on nicotine not smoking. Switch to e-cigs or patches.

That's not how you get people to quit. What that comes off as is preaching. Think about a preacher holding a Bible and yelling at you "quit using that porno it's causing you to be impotent and disgusting" it's going to motivate you?

I quit smoking 12 years ago. I didn't do it because obnoxious people like you were being obnoxious. I did it because I wanted to.

 

[iguanaman]

That's not how you get people to quit. What that comes off as is preaching. Think about a preacher holding a Bible and yelling at you "quit using that porno it's causing you to be impotent and disgusting" it's going to motivate you?

I quit smoking 12 years ago. I didn't do it because obnoxious people like you were being obnoxious. I did it because I wanted to.

You need to chill out. Smoking will kill you and it is not a hoax like religion is. Saving people's lives is not for the squeamish. Some do not listen to reason and need to learn the hard way. I am an ex-smoker myself BTW. I think cigs should be $20 a pack with 10$ of that going into a healthcare plan for the smoker. They will need that plan.

 

[CLAX1911]

You need to chill out. Saving people's lives is not for the squeamish.

You aren't saving anybody though you're just preaching. You aren't Jesus you're a pastor.

You can't save anybody you don't know how.

It seems like all you're doing is lecturing to make you feel better about yourself

 

[iguanaman]

You aren't saving anybody though you're just preaching. You aren't Jesus you're a pastor.

You can't save anybody you don't know how.

It seems like all you're doing is lecturing to make you feel better about yourself

You seem like you are angry that you quit smoking. If nicotine withdrawal is getting to you try e-cigs. That is how I quit. It was as easy as pie.

 

[CLAX1911]

You seem like you are angry that you quit smoking.

you seem to be angry that I'm pointing out that your brain dead preaching is useless. And your projecting your anger onto me

If nicotine withdrawal is getting to you try e-cigs. That is how I quit. It was as easy as pie.

It was 12 years ago when I quit so all the effect of nicotine withdrawal is long over. I didn't use anything I quit cold turkey. I'm glad you were able to quit. And I'm glad it was easy for you.

 

[iguanaman]

you seem to be angry that I'm pointing out that your brain dead preaching is useless. And your projecting your anger onto me

It was 12 years ago when I quit so all the effect of nicotine withdrawal is long over. I didn't use anything I quit cold turkey. I'm glad you were able to quit. And I'm glad it was easy for you.

Telling people that they need to quit is not useless and it is not as hard as it used to be thanks to e-cigs. That is the message I wanted to give.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/202...smoking-cessation-e-cigarettes-use/index.html

 

[CLAX1911]

Telling people that they need to quit is not useless and it is not as hard as it used to be thanks to e-cigs. That is the message I wanted to give.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/202...smoking-cessation-e-cigarettes-use/index.html

Yeah it sort of is. I remember when I smoked the people that told me I needed to quit or just background noise.

When I quit I quit because I decided to.

Salad you have e-cigarettes or maybe that makes it easier I don't know when I quit it and have those.

 

[iguanaman]

Yeah it sort of is. I remember when I smoked the people that told me I needed to quit or just background noise.

When I quit I quit because I decided to.

Salad you have e-cigarettes or maybe that makes it easier I don't know when I quit it and have those.

Yes but those voices made you think about wanting to quit. I do agree you have to want to quit to be successful. That is what made me seek out e-cigs 12 years ago.

 

[aociswundumho]

My favorite pharmacoeconomic study of all time looked at this in the early 90s.

It looked at the economic impact of smoking on Medicare and SS. It basically found that the overall effects of smoking saved money, because back then, lung cancer was cheap to treat because there wasn’t much you could do, so the cost was offset by massive savings in not paying SS.

It was ideal- people worked their entire lives, and dropped dead from an incurable disease early. Non smokers cost more in SS years, and then cost Medicare lots because they would tend to get expensive, chronic disease.

This isn’t true now, though.

Seems like it is: Here's an article from 2009:

A White House statement supporting the bill, which awaits action in the Senate, echoed the argument by contending that tobacco use "accounts for over a $100 billion annually in financial costs to the economy."

However, smokers die some 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, according to the CDC, and those premature deaths provide a savings to Medicare, Social Security, private pensions and other programs.

Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi studied the net costs of smoking-related spending and savings and found that for every pack of cigarettes smoked, the country reaps a net cost savings of 32 cents.

"It looks unpleasant or ghoulish to look at the cost savings as well as the cost increases and it's not a good thing that smoking kills people," Viscusi said in an interview. "But if you're going to follow this health-cost train all the way, you have to take into account all the effects, not just the ones you like in terms of getting your bill passed."

and

Other researchers have reached similar conclusions.

A Dutch study published last year in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal said that health care costs for smokers were about $326,000 from age 20 on, compared to about $417,000 for thin and healthy people.

The reason: The thin, healthy people lived much longer.

According to the way progressives think in this thread, I guess we should subsidize cigarettes.

 

[CLAX1911]

Yes but those voices made you think about wanting to quit.

No they didn't. The voice that made the biggest difference to me was a 65 year old guy that had quit in his 40s I was 25 at the time. And he told me all you have to do is not have the next one.

He was a blindly screaming at me to quit like some Street preacher telling me the end is near.

I do agree you have to want to quit to be successful. That is what made me seek out e-cigs 12 years ago.

that's all there is to it you have to want to nobody else can ever encourage you to do it unless you already want to.

I quit in March of 2010 I didn't see any cigarettes. They seems to be something that became very common around 2014 or so.