By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
Talk about mixed messages! They've banned cigarettes just about everywhere: bars, cars, trains, buses, planes, office buildings, movie theaters, beaches, parks, hospitals...I could go on but you get the picture.
Soon, smokers will have to go to the moon or mars just to light up and take a puff...since smoking in your home just might join the list of "smoke Free" zones, if the government has any say so in it. But I digress.
Last week New York State lawmakers voted to raise taxes on cigarettes by $1.60, bringing the total tax to $4.35, the highest in the nation. Can you believe it? As if buying a pack of cigarettes isn't high enough in New York already.
Smokers, soon you'll need to mortgage your house if you want to buy a carton, let alone a pack!
Taxing, much like a bond on a "get out of jail right away" card, is meant to dissuade the arrested individual from taking off and skipping his/her court date; well higher tax on cigarettes is the governments way of discouraging smokers from continuing their nasty habit.
But, as some lawmaker has just recently realized, it's also a way to raise money, and the big apple seems to need a lot of that right about now, so, hey, if "we need to make it off the lungs of smokers and anyone else, so be it."
Back to my original statement: Talk about conflicting messages!
I wonder what gimmick/message they hand us when lawmakers finally decide to legalize and tax marijuana?
Click here to read, "Clear The Air Tobacco" Blog
Tobacco: Your Health, Facts and Legislation
Raise New York Tax On Cigarettes
The Black Urban Times
Talk about mixed messages! They've banned cigarettes just about everywhere: bars, cars, trains, buses, planes, office buildings, movie theaters, beaches, parks, hospitals...I could go on but you get the picture.
Soon, smokers will have to go to the moon or mars just to light up and take a puff...since smoking in your home just might join the list of "smoke Free" zones, if the government has any say so in it. But I digress.
Last week New York State lawmakers voted to raise taxes on cigarettes by $1.60, bringing the total tax to $4.35, the highest in the nation. Can you believe it? As if buying a pack of cigarettes isn't high enough in New York already.
Smokers, soon you'll need to mortgage your house if you want to buy a carton, let alone a pack!
Taxing, much like a bond on a "get out of jail right away" card, is meant to dissuade the arrested individual from taking off and skipping his/her court date; well higher tax on cigarettes is the governments way of discouraging smokers from continuing their nasty habit.
But, as some lawmaker has just recently realized, it's also a way to raise money, and the big apple seems to need a lot of that right about now, so, hey, if "we need to make it off the lungs of smokers and anyone else, so be it."
Back to my original statement: Talk about conflicting messages!
I wonder what gimmick/message they hand us when lawmakers finally decide to legalize and tax marijuana?
Click here to read, "Clear The Air Tobacco" Blog
Tobacco: Your Health, Facts and Legislation
Raise New York Tax On Cigarettes
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