alcohol and cigarette taxes- is this not discrimination?

I think if we have to have taxes at all, it should be on the dangerous shit only. But no sales tax on other things

 

Expanded view:


Though it should also be noted the federal tax on cigarettes is only $1.01 a pack, the rest(and most) of the tax is state tax. Same goes for liquor.

 

money dont grow on trees..

 

This.

I'm all about freedom of choice, but I'm going to be the one paying to keep you alive when your habits catch up with you.

Now a high tax on marijuana or LSD would, of course, be wrong.

 

I'm against it but not militantly against it like I am with most taxes.

I'm against sin taxes in the sense that it is the government deciding what is sinful and what is wrong. It is a prohibitionist mentality.

But if we are to have a tax on drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) they should be strictly used to fund rehabilitation programs and health costs. Period.

 

This is pretty much like asking if meth, heroin and the like being illegal is discrimination.

Agreed. Tobacco has nicotine which is a hard drug. And one can still get cancer from all-natural tobacco.

Definitely. Well-put.

 

This isn't to argue against high taxes on cigarettes but only the argument that smokers have higher health care related costs. I'm not so sure that's an accurate assesment of the true cost of smoking. While it is true (I assume anyway) that smokers have higher rates of cancer it's also a for-sure that everone who doesn't die young is going to die old - and that costs, if the past is any indicator, will be rising past the point of inflation the entire time. So if smokers, on average, die earlier than do non-smokers they are saving money, for everyone, on health care costs by not struggling on into a very advanced age and dying only after decades of consuming preventative medications for other non-smoking related ailments.

 

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Stevejay: The word is: regressive, meaning that the lower end of the income scale pay the freight, to say.

Its called "sin taxes" cause political opposition to the tax is muted by the behaviors associated with its consumption.

You should visit New York where taxes are higher than in Maine. Goverment there is trying to include soda pop in the sin tax category to raise more revenue.

New Jersey and Delaware want to expand legal gambling options for income.

You can bet on the NFL in Delaware and Jersey wants to legalize on-line gambling. (vetoed this week)

is this discrimination against gamblers?