Núñez bids $2-a-pack cigarette tax to pay for health care

[The Straight Story]

Núñez bids $2-a-pack cigarette tax to pay for health care

The Democratic leader of the state Assembly announced a final effort Monday to pass a health care overhaul before the end of the year, proposing a $2-a-pack tax on cigarettes to help expand coverage to all 6.8 million uninsured Californians.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, also conceded a major point to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by endorsing a mandate that all Californians have health insurance.

Núñez made the concession despite complaints from consumer groups and labor unions that requiring coverage could prove too costly for middle-class families who are uninsured. To soften the blow, Núñez proposed tax credits to help subsidize coverage to families earning as much as $92,000 a year.

"This is a solid proposal; no reason why anyone in their right mind should oppose this proposal," he said.

After nearly a year of talk about changing the health care program, the governor and Democratic leaders have so far been unable to come to an agreement on a handful of critical issues. Both sides agree that employers should be required to provide coverage to workers but remain at odds over how much each should pay.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/11/06/BAPKT6U00.DTL&type=politics

[zabet]

1. How many smokers will REALLY

have to quit when the price gets that high per pack? When the cigarette
sales drop off, where will they get the funding then? Hell, at $29.00 a
carton, I have cut my consumption in half (really need to quit). That along
with the rising cost of everything it will come down to eat or smoke for many.
Personally, I will opt for eating over smoking.

[tuckessee]

2. At some point the market will just go outside the system.

Once the taxed price gets over a certain point it will come to highjacking cigarette loads, smuggling overseas smokes, and/or clandestine growing & manufacturing.

It'll be a boom time for organized crime.

[zabet]

5. To an extent that may be true but,

our local 'herbologist' has been crying about the drop in business
due to people having to spend the money on necessities like gas and
food.

[wuushew]

6. No doubt, but would the scale would be as large?

The cigarette economy is based people needing to smoke often and everywhere. Which is why tobacco products dovetail perfectly with existing retail outlets.

It's not plausible that the mafia would have a superior distribution channel than large corporations.

I mean clearly convenience is more important than price otherwise people would all go to bulk tobacco outlets and load up with several gross of smokes, instead of going to the gas station.

[tuckessee]

15. One of the Sicilian Mafia's main sources of revenue...

...until the heroin trade took off in the 60's was smuggling cigarettes and even up into the 1980's highjacking & distributing untaxed smokes was a common and lucrative pastime for American wiseguys.

By "orgainzed crime" I wasn't necessarily referring to the traditional American mafia. It could be anybody, even loose groups of independent growers, smugglers, manufacturers, etc.

If tobacco prices get too high I see something developing like the homegrown marijuana industry. I've yet to hear of hydroponically grown indoor tobacco but who knows what we'll see in the future.....

[Phillycat]

3. $29.90 a carton?? Luck you!!

$43.30 here. (Philadelphia)

[zabet]

9. Depending on your brand of choice...

mine is marlboro menthol ultralights, you can search online or
I go to smokersservice.com to get manufacturer coupons sent to me.
They range in value from $3 to $5 off of a carton. If I did not do
that (get coupons and have non-smoking friends get them for me), my
cost would be higher.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. While I don't smoke I think the cigarette tax is oppressive.

Just because smokers are a minority doesn't mean that they should have abuse heaped upon them. It's really gutless to keep picking on one group that doesn't have the means to fight back because of their minority status.

[Marrah_G]

11. A carton of cheap ones is twice that here.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. Same here, my quit date is Dec. 1st

wish me luck!

[zabet]

18. I have failed several times.

I am seriously considering the Dr. prescribed
med to help.
Good luck to you on your quit date! :hi:

True story. Last time I attempted to quit, by the 5th day,
I would dream about smoking. When I would awaken, I could
TASTE a cigarette in my mouth. Torture!!! Needless to say
physical addiction kicked willpower's ass once again. :cry:

[magellan]

4. This isn't a solution, just a band-aid

Much as I admire the creativity, which began in Oregon (saw it on Countdown last night), it still doesn't address the crux of the problem: getting the insurance companies out of the equation.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. It wasn't 'creativity', it was the R's in OR not allowing any other funding source except cigs...

The same problem we had in the US Congress. (SCHIP)

[magellan]

14. I meant the whole idea

It's a creative use of a highly inflexible system. But it's doomed to failure. As MM pointed out, there's a reason the health insurance companies supported it. The Repugs/corporatists are simply playing both sides of the fence.

[High Plains]

8. Goddammit! If society wants health care for children...

...let everyone pay for it.

They raised tobacco taxes in my state for something similar. I now buy my cigarettes online and the state gets zilch from me--and I save $2 a pack.

[karlrschneider]

17. Be careful! Some of these online outfits report sales to state tax authorities!

I got nailed that way some time ago before I quit. A letter out of the blue demanding $240 in taxes.
:eyes:

[MonkeyFunk]

10. I spoke with the owner

of a local discount cigarette store recently.

She said tax increases don't cut down smoking at all - it just makes people switch to cheaper forms of tobacco.

She spends almost all her time doing paperwork to deal with the taxes on rolled cigarettes, but pouch tobacco is pretty much unregulated.

[Raejeanowl]

16. When Is Government Going To Stop This?

Addressing every shortfall in their budgets by abusively taxing the captive audience of tobacco addicts, while doing absolutely effin' zilch about their health problem? Some state legislators - several particular asses in Maryland - actually have the audacity to label cigarette tax increases as "cessation efforts." The least they could do is use the money to offer more help with real quitting programs (paying for some of the pharmaceuticals that health insurance refuses to subsidize).

There's been a real taxation without representation situation rumbling for years, and I would dance with joy if someday a bright young someone took it upon themselves to "acquire" a bunch of wrapped and stamped but undistributed ciggies, take them out onto the Chesapeake Bay, and dump them (removing the wrappers, of course-the nicotine alone will probably cause a mini-aquatic disaster) before the state had a chance to collect their blood money. Would make a lovely "tea party." I'm sure the press would come.

:rant: