DC Dems vote to increase cigarette taxes

[Anonymous]

$2. Nothing says progressive like regressive taxes. And watch loose cigs get sold then an Eric garner case because democrats live their taxes

[Anonymous]

Republicans in Kentucky just voted to increase cigarette taxes. Trump won Kentucky by the largest margin of any Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972, and swept counties across the state.
Oklahoma also recently passed legislation to increase cigarette taxes and it’s a predominantly Red state.
Montana is pushing for an initiative that would tack on $2 to a pack of cigarettes to be used to pay for Medicaid expansion. Another Red state.

OP shut your ass up.

[Anonymous]

I think they should raise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. No reason to encourage people to kill themselves.

[Anonymous]

Makes zero sense when the taxes on cigarettes are so much lower in MD and VA. All this does is encourage diving an extra 5 minutes for easy tax avoidance.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why they can't just ban them altogether?

What's the point of heavily taxing them to discourage use, when you could simply outlaw them completely just as easily?

No, I'm not stupid - I realize that people will just get them from MD or VA instead, but that's besides the point. If you want people to quit smoking, what possible good does it do to make it more expensive? People will still keep paying it. Just ban it completely if you want people to stop.

I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why they can't just ban them altogether?

What's the point of heavily taxing them to discourage use, when you could simply outlaw them completely just as easily?

No, I'm not stupid - I realize that people will just get them from MD or VA instead, but that's besides the point. If you want people to quit smoking, what possible good does it do to make it more expensive? People will still keep paying it. Just ban it completely if you want people to stop.

I don't get it.

Becau$e it$ not about di$couraging u$e.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why they can't just ban them altogether?

What's the point of heavily taxing them to discourage use, when you could simply outlaw them completely just as easily?

No, I'm not stupid - I realize that people will just get them from MD or VA instead, but that's besides the point. If you want people to quit smoking, what possible good does it do to make it more expensive? People will still keep paying it. Just ban it completely if you want people to stop.

I don't get it.

People never obtain banned substances?

[Anonymous]

Sure they do. But the city doesn't collect taxes on it because it's unethical to make money on illegal harmful things.

So just make cigarettes illegal altogether, and then there's no need for a punitive tax that impacts the poor disproportionately, and makes the city look bad by collecting money on something it knows is dangerous, but allows people to do anyway, because it likes the revenue it generates.

It's unseemly.


Just ban it altogether

[Anonymous]

More shocking: DC increased taxes on ride sharing services by 6x - from 1% to 6% of the fare.

That's nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure they do. But the city doesn't collect taxes on it because it's unethical to make money on illegal harmful things.

So just make cigarettes illegal altogether, and then there's no need for a punitive tax that impacts the poor disproportionately, and makes the city look bad by collecting money on something it knows is dangerous, but allows people to do anyway, because it likes the revenue it generates.

It's unseemly.


Just ban it altogether

Bans never work. Cigarettes will be sold anyway. At least now government is getting it's share of the sales as tax.
Same reasoning applies to alcohol sales (remember what happened during prohibition?), and to marijuana sales to some degree.

[Anonymous]

People can still buy them in MD and VA if they want. DC doesn't need the equivalent of blood money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why they can't just ban them altogether?

What's the point of heavily taxing them to discourage use, when you could simply outlaw them completely just as easily?

No, I'm not stupid - I realize that people will just get them from MD or VA instead, but that's besides the point. If you want people to quit smoking, what possible good does it do to make it more expensive? People will still keep paying it. Just ban it completely if you want people to stop.

I don't get it.

Becau$e it$ not about di$couraging u$e.

Taxes have been proven to reduce the rate of smoking.

[Anonymous]

I think that's great! MD and VA should do the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why they can't just ban them altogether?

What's the point of heavily taxing them to discourage use, when you could simply outlaw them completely just as easily?

No, I'm not stupid - I realize that people will just get them from MD or VA instead, but that's besides the point. If you want people to quit smoking, what possible good does it do to make it more expensive? People will still keep paying it. Just ban it completely if you want people to stop.

I don't get it.

Becau$e it$ not about di$couraging u$e.

It actually is. Studies show that cigarette taxes DO reduce smoking, especially among teens and young people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cigarette-taxes-are-the-best-way-to-cut-smoking-scaring-big-tobacco/2017/10/21/fbf51d04-9f05-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html?utm_term=.42a3d2fd9143

[Anonymous]

I remember when a pack was less than $2 including taxes. I think a pack should be closer to $20.

But a ban is silly. If people want to smoke then let them pay for it fairly. A ban turns smoking into a moral issue and that is a huge mistake. Remember the prohibition? That worked out really well.....