The EP Times is showing their true colors again on their opinion page. The little liberal sect downtown barfed up an opinion piece that is pro cigarette tax for smokers. Here’s the link http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_4922771.
Basically they are okay with throwing smokers, convenience store owners and John Q Public under the bus to pay for Medicaid costs associated with smoking related illnesses. A $1.00 tax on all packs of cigarettes sold in Texas is going to save us from ourselves or save us money… they think. All of a sudden they are concerned that taxpayers are paying way too much for people who are detrimental to themselves on our dimes. How republican of the legislature.
They may also be aware that dead people don’t pay taxes. Therefore they must tax those who are more likely to die early at a higher rate in order to collect “their” share. Damn you if you want to cheat your way out of paying for those who refuse to work for their fair share by smoking cigarettes and dying early.
If you look at the numbers, it’s only $365 more a year for a smoker who has a pack a day habit. There isn’t anything in a hospital other than a coke from a vending machine that you can buy for as little as $365. Put a couple million smokers in the pot, though, and you have quite a chunk of change. Something tells me that the money will quickly find its way into some kind of “general fund” when its potential is realized. Ailing smokers will likely see the money but once – when it leaves their hands. Years later when they can’t afford to pay medical expenses related to their habit, they’ll be able to die peacefully knowing that some jackass-elected official built a road to nowhere with their money.
Why do we care what smokers think? After all, smokers have been so demonized you’d rather claim Michael Jackson as your preferred babysitter than admit you smoke. Why not tax them for an illness they may or may not get and then jack that money from them in the end – they are only smokers. For God’s sake we don’t even let them in our buildings. We force them to the alleys where we throw our trash. Did you ever think that smokers are dying young because you make them brave blizzards in order to get their fix while you get you fix stuffing your face with cheeseburgers in the confines of your comfy office. Screw you smokers! You’re awful!
We ought to charge parents of kids with failing grades a dollar a day so that when we have to either support their child in prison or on welfare it’s less of a burden. Hell, we ought to come up with a whole list of behaviors that may lead to the government having to pay for in the future and tax them too!
Let’s not even get into the merchants here in El Paso who will get undersold by New Mexican and Mexican stores. We don’t give a rat’s ass about them because we are making some serious bank! We’ve got roads to nowhere to build and the small business owner who can’t afford a lobbyist to plead their case will be our “collateral damage.”
John Q public must wonder if his or her occasional hankering for a 64 ounce steak with a two pound baked potato will cost them an extra few bucks in the future. Heart disease kills 10 times the amount of people smoking does. Heart disease opponents just don’t have the same PR machine behind them yet.
I guess I just hate most all taxes. There’s always some idiot who thinks taxes are a good idea and doesn’t stop to think how it weighs on others. I can just hear them saying, “it’s only a dollar!” A dollar means a lot of different thing to different people. Taxing unpopular habits is awful and possibly unconstitutional. Are we not all created equal? Then why aren’t we taxed so?
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