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Smokers steamed over prospect of another tax
By GREG KOHNTOPP
Greg.Kohntopp@IndeOnline.com
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Massillon resident Darlene Jellel never thought she would be leading a grassroots crusade. That was until she found out that Congress is in the early process of levying another tax against her favorite vice – her Kool cigarettes.

The Senate has proposed a federal excise tax against tobacco products that could raise the price of cigarettes by as much as 61 cents per pack in Ohio. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-16, last week said that the bill was still in its infancy stage and that the Senate is still trying to determine if there is enough support to advance the bill to the House of Representatives. The excise tax would be used to help fund children’s insurance programs.

While there is no guarantee the bill will garner enough support in the Senate to move it to the House, Jellel isn’t taking any chances. She has seen the price of cigarettes increase dramatically in recent years and she watched the state of Ohio outlaw smoking in public places. With this latest news, she is fighting back.

Jellel has created a petition against the passage of the tax and is collecting signatures from other smokers also against the tax. She has also recruited six family members and close friends to join her cause.

She urges all smokers to unite.

“We’ve already watched them ban smoking everywhere” said Jellel, who found out about the possible tax after calling the 800 number on a pack of her cigarettes to try to get coupons. “I don’t think everybody voted last time. We all have to do something, not just me. ... Why is it always cigarettes they are trying to tax?”

Jellel believes that if smokers don’t do something now, the leaders to be will continue to tax cigarettes while limiting smoker’s rights even further. Jellel isn’t against what the tax would be used for, just the means in which the money is collected.

“I just don’t understand why it’s always cigarettes,” she said. “Drinking kills a lot of people. At least by smoking, I’m only killing myself. Why don’t they tax alcohol?

“I just can’t afford for this to happen. Especially, since this is my most favorite enjoyment.”


Smokers united


Jellel isn’t alone in the fight against the tax. Pam Fothergill, manager of Smokers Outlet, 2971 Lincoln Way N.W., is also aware of the proposed excise tax and has been doing her part, handing out fliers to customers.

One of the fliers, which was sponsored by cigarette giant R.J. Reynolds, points out that smokers paid nearly $33 billion in cigarette taxes and Master Settlement payments in 2006 alone.

“I’ve been trying to fill our customers in,” Fothergill said. “I’m a smoker myself and I’m not happy. From what I heard, it could raise the price up to $10 per carton. ... I don’t see them trying to tax alcohol or anything else. Only tobacco.

“Why? That I’m not sure of, but it’s unfair.”

Fothergill, like Jellel, believes it’s time for smoker’s to take a stand and fight any new taxes.

“We’re doing everything we can to stop the taxes,” she said. “Enough is enough. We’re losing our rights and it’s not fair.”

Vickie Burke, a bartender at the Alibi, who also is a smoker, says the statewide smoking ban has been crippling the bar’s business. Less customers have been coming into the smoke-free bar, meaning less money in tips for Burke. Once she found out about the proposed excise tax, she too, said it is time to take a stand.

Burke welcomed Jellel to bring her petition into the Alibi.

“The tax sounds like it’s going for a good cause but I don’t think the money goes where it actually should go,” Burke said. “How much of the money will go toward (children’s health care) and how much will go into somebody else’s pocket? An example is the lottery. When the lottery was started, the proceeds were supposed to go to the schools. But every election, schools are trying to pass new levies because they need money. Where is all that lottery money going?”




Why not just outlaw them altogether ? I'm not a smoker and this nonsense makes me shake my head . I am interested in whether or not this nonsmoking mania will carry over to our industrial businesses.....naaahh. I can't wait until we start discriminating against all the fat old bastards who think of these things. I look foreward to the day when we outlaw fast foods and non diabetic friendly foods as well . I can't seem to be able to control myself and my bad habits so I am very glad that I live in this time and place so that someone else can be reponsible for me and my actions.

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Why not just outlaw them altogether ?

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Because they have learned from the backlash of Prohibition.
Instead of attempting to outlaw it, they're just going to let everyone decide they don't need/want it anymore. Of course, they're going to do everything they can to help folks come to that conclusion

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Because they have learned from the backlash of Prohibition.
Instead of attempting to outlaw it, they're just going to let everyone decide they don't need/want it anymore. Of course, they're going to do everything they can to help folks come to that conclusion

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LOL.. they don't WANT you to quit... If everybody quit tomorrow, the federal and state governments lose a huge cash cow, the economy takes a hit..... not to mention the crime rate would quadruple from people having nic fits...

They are increasing taxes to make up for the lost revenue of the people who quit the last time they raised taxes and the smoking bans.

It's a cycle, people quit smoking, so they raised taxes to make up for the loss, the hikes cause people to quit, so they raises the taxes again, and on and on and on.

I think they should outlaw them all together in Ohio. I mean,it's very rarely you can smoke in public anymore anyway. Why not?

That way,ALL OF THAT TAX money they lose? Can be added to everyone,spread out evenly. Though higher sales tax maybe?Property taxes maybe? Gasoline taxes maybe? They'll have to make it up somewhere! I'm sure all the "non-smokers" would LOVE that! I think it would be poetic justice. Then,I could just get my smokes from out of state and let you guys pay the taxes I've been contributing. Yes,poetic justice................

See I don't agree with that because it seems as if that is exactly what they are trying to do . How high will smokes be before everyone says forget smoking altogether ?

wouldn't that be like the law of diminishing returns ? At some point they will have to invent another tax base will they not ? What will it be I wonder and furthermore I wonder if it will touch on anything that nonsmokers enjoy ? I can only hope .

Smokers paid for Cleveland Browns Stadium through the sin tax.

Now after their money has been used to build Browns Stadium you want to tell them you cant smoke at Browns games and outlaw smoking all together.

I feel so used.

Then quit.

Nobody is forcing you to smoke.

stop smoking...

Smack sigs are not allowed...

Just as nobody is forcing you to eat bad fatty foods yet you still do ...correct ? You have again missed the point of the argument.

No sir my body is a temple

Holy Ironchest !! We have another one.

lol

Mcy-D's after work it is!

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Just as nobody is forcing you to eat bad fatty foods yet you still do ...correct ?

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I sure do!

But, I don't bitch about it when they jack up the prices.

I have the perfect example for this:

I am addicted to Mountain Dew. Just this week, the food service company jacked up the price of everything at my place of employment, including my precious Mountain Dew. I have been dry since Monday.

Instead of pissing and moaning about it, do something about it. Don't support the cause. Send them a message by not buying the product.

Once again......common sense.......which has completely avoided you.

Apple and Oranges but funny none the less....

When they get around to mandating that you eat healthier foods, outlaw places where you can drink and eat your foods then maybe you will have a comparisson . When a can of Dew and all of it's substitutes cost $3.00 a can. When they refuse to offer you insurance because instead of blood you have syrup coursing through your veins talk to me. See again you have the issue all screwed up. It is about unfairly targeting a portion of society because of the legal choices they make. Personally I would love it if nobody smoked but to be honest fat, obese people are more repulsive to me than smokers because it shows a lack of self control and will power ( as does smoking ) but that is JMHO.

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Then quit.

Nobody is forcing you to smoke.

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Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That or legislate everything, which unfortunately has been the soup du jour for some time. Perhaps BuckDawg doesn't want to quit and that, of course, would be the point.

Sin taxes are a boon to many legislators and this tactic avoids the wrath of most constituents. It's easy math. I always found Ohio's E Check (auto emission testing / requirements) to fall in the same category. The Fed EPA gave our state multiple remedies to meet federal guidelines and we chose that ineffective countermeasure. Despite it's ineffectiveness, It was the easiest path as only a minority of counties had to initiate this. That made it easy legislation to pass as the "yeas" come from counties not required to have it and the "neys" can go back to their voters and say they did all they could to stop it. Everyone wins, except those that have to pay for the service as a stipulation to get their vehicles registered. Oh, and the environment is no winner. Clean up auto emissions? If we were serious about that, it would cost everyone, which brings me back on topic. Imho, we need to very careful about allowing both social engineering and tax increases simply because it may not affect some now.

With that I need to pay a few taxes. Anyone seen my lighter.

Btw, BuckDawg....nice sig. O-H

I understand your pain, but I've talked to smokers who did more to curb their driving habits when gas hit 3.00/gal than they do to curb their smoking habits at $5 pack.

If a Soda cost 3.00, I wouldn't drink it, or I would drink alot less of them. Same with Big Macs, and whatever else. But I don't have an addiction, so it's no big deal to me.

I understand it's not easy to quit smoking, but I won't feel sympathy either cause no one is forcing you to smoke, it's your choice, and as long as you are willing to pay the price they charge, you lose.

Complain all you want, they don't care. I'm surprised after that class action lawsuit against the cigarette companies that cigarettes didn't go up to $10/pack to cover the losses.

It amazes me even more the young teens that are still starting smoking, even with all the knowledge we have now.

No need to feel my pain as I gave up the habit almost 10 years ago and to be honest it wasn't that hard to quit , although I have heard from others that it is very hard . My complaint is that smokers are an easy target and nobody seems to think about it as long as new taxes and/or legislation doesn't effect them personally .

Why don't the smokers grow your own? Same as some of you grow your own other stuff.

You are correct about people not adjusting their habits when gasoline went over $3 a gallon.

Driving the speed limit alone will help save fuel, yet as I have my cruise control set at 60 mph (the speed limit on local highways in metro areas) people pass me and it looks as if I am driving very slowly.

My sentiments on the taxation of other items as to not interrupt the revenue stream when cigarettes finally stop selling enough to produce viable revenue? Anything and everything is most likely to be open to being taxed. Right at this very moment, our county commissioners (Cuyahoga County) are probably sitting around devising new ways to remove more funds from the citizens by putting new taxes on the ballot. They use heart-tugging commercials showing children and how these children will benefit from the passage of the tax increase proposal.

Where does it end? It will end when we dump the commissioners in the water with the tea.

Sad thing is, the deficits in the government budgets could easily be corrected if they alone would be more frugal in their use of funds, but instead they still expect tax payers to cover unnecessary projects, even when the budget is in the red.

Maybe we ought to recreate the government to be run by a board of directors who is directly responsible to the shareholders(ie: taxpayers) because the current system doesn't seem to think that way.

In Cuyahoga County, the commissioners want to tack on another 1/4% to the state sales tax to fund a convention center. This they want to do without a vote of the people.

They haven't figured it out yet.

They can't see that their past policies has driven people from the county to surrounding areas with lower taxes.

These guys really have no clue. The Cuyahoga County area in general and the Cleveland area in particular are hurting...and the policies of these raise the tax anytime we want to politicians are ready to kill the dying patient.

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Maybe we ought to recreate the government to be run by a board of directors who is directly responsible to the shareholders(ie: taxpayers) because the current system doesn't seem to think that way.

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Isn't that pretty much what we have now? A legislature who is directly accountable to the people?.... The problem is the people who don't hold them accountable...

Being a non smoker now, I could care less if cigs cost $100 per pack.... makes no never mind to me!

Amen!

I'm lucky my work puts me right by the border 3 days a week, so I can get my cigarettes from the USA Duty Free store for 17$ a carton and walk back around to the US side. It takes about 10 minutes to save 35$.

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Instead of attempting to outlaw it, they're just going to let everyone decide they don't need/want it anymore. Of course, they're going to do everything they can to help folks come to that conclusion

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Out of one side of their mouth.

Out of the other side, they'd totally freak at the money they'd lose if smokers really did quit.

They speak with forked tongue.

Prices are MUCH better here Dave! My "personal favorite"!

http://www.cigmall.net/