Do you think the state should raise the cigarette tax to pay for health care reforms? / LJWorld.com

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Asked at Massachusetts Street on December 14, 2007

“Yes. People who smoke are going to be using the health care system more in the long run, so it is benefiting them. And any incentive to quit is a good one.”

— Gretchen Auten, domestic violence prevention advocate, Lawrence

“I think so, because it stops people from smoking, and at least those people who do smoke will be helping others while hurting themselves.”

— Annette Koland, Kansas University freshman, Chapman

“No. I think it’s already too high for the smokers anyway.”

— Jeff Ryan, KU senior, Lawrence

“ think it sounds like a good plan because of the effect smoking has on your health. If that money is used for health care or medical research, it will be money well spent.”

— Doug Evers, education administrator, Wichita

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Dixie Jones 6 years, 2 months ago

i think SMOKERS should be banned not just

OnlyTheOne 6 years, 2 months ago

Politicians, like everyone else, need to learn to live within their means - not ours! As for smokers using the health system more - I once worked at a business - mostly yuppies - that spent $106 for every $100 of premiums! They were sick constantly.

JayhawksandHerd 6 years, 2 months ago

"If that money is used for health care or medical research, it will be money well spent."

Here's an idea, Doug...maybe that money should be earmarked for, oh, I don't know...treatment of smoking-related illnesses? Establishment of cessation programs where none currently exist? After all, the complaint from non-smokers is that they don't want to be held financially accountable for smokers' health problems, right? That being the case, why should any of this revenue go towards anything not related to smoking? If that's the case, I think the tax is a fine idea, but I'll believe it when I see it.

overplayedhistory 6 years, 2 months ago

Ask RJ and Phillip to lower the cost per pack. Try growing some. You might find yourself another alter to pray at. It is a heavy feeder and needs some fertilizer help 13-13-13. Oh and it likes full sun. You will probably have to start it indoors.

overplayedhistory 6 years, 2 months ago

Your lucky you still can smoke on the street. If you are blasting a radio you can still get a ticket. I don't see smoking on the street any different. The person who is blasting the radio doesn't get to say "hey they can walk on the other side of the street if they don't like it". Smokers are up in arms like any junky would be. Far too long smokers have been accepted civic bullies. You have done your share to make health care cost so much. You have enjoyed getting payed the same for less work. Now the shoe is on the other foot. There is no end to the enjoyment I get out of your frustration. The frustration you feel is the same I used to feel when I was your hostage.

solsken66 6 years, 2 months ago

There was a statement above that raising higher taxes would prevent people from smoking is a bunch of hog wash. Those who are addicted will cut back on other expenses, buy cirgarettes from indian reservations, or buy cirgarettes from the black market.

solsken66 6 years, 2 months ago

Need to allocate a portion of the cirgarette tax money to go directly to a fund to help smokers quite. This means giving free access to patches, medications, and counseling for those smokers who wish to stop. Since they will be paying a large portion of taxes for health intiatives, then they should be entitled to some free benefits.

Linda Endicott 6 years, 2 months ago

I do find it so amusing that all of the holier-than-thou non-smokers seem to believe that they will never get lung cancer, or COPD, or bronchitis, or asthma, or any other lung problem, ever...and with all the factory fumes, radial tire particles, and car exhaust in the air, you really think that your lungs are pure as the driven snow? Anything that burns releases the same toxins as cigarettes...you mean to say you have never, ever, been around anything in your lives that has been burned?? You've never been around any type of smoke, ever?

How sheltered you have been...

TAX_PAYER 6 years, 2 months ago

Sometimes in life you don't have a choice, You stop and think about all the people in power,It brings pain deep inside,But in your mind it all remains a mystery on how easily You can be deceived and still not know the power that You hold,This could not be told to someone who will not hear the Truth, So if You could be so bold could you take the time to remember our precious Youth, They must live with what we have created,We should set things straight judge no words overrated take the time to listen and define for words You hear spoke may be proven false through time, this is how I know it was all a joke ,Taking control of lives choosing who live and dies "government" can We Trust can You tell Me how to decide to possess the knowledge that we need,We shall no longer be deceived,All these People in disgust,When ALL we ever new was in GOD WE TRUST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Left_handed 6 years, 4 months ago

Just ban tobacco. There is no form of it that isn't harmful. It serves no purpose. Eliminate the problem by proscribing the stuff in the US. Then when the black market hits there will be a much greater revenue stream in fines (like for pot and other illicit drugs) than the paltry tax revenue that they are getting now.

GretchenJP 6 years, 4 months ago

Is this a necessary evil?

janeyb 6 years, 4 months ago

"And I have never seen a newspaper article that said a car wreck was caused by a person "under the influence of tobacco."

A driver dropping a lit cigarette in his/her lap has never caused an accident? Give me a break. Smoking while you drive is just liking talking on a cell phone.

"You need to open your mind to all the problems that run up health care, including all the people who run to the emergency room for non-emergency problems."

Talk about stupid--this is no argument for not hiking the taxes on cigarettes. Cigarette smokers are going to wind up in the emergency room sooner than later---with kidney stones, bronchitis, deep vein thrombosis, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, dementia, diseased gall bladder, pancreatitis--all more prominent in smokers. But in their 40's, 50' and 60's, not their 80's, and they will keep on smoking, so therefore, they are basically showing up in the ER with unsolvable problems. And since the big anti-cigarette tax argument is that it is the working poor who smoke, so the tax punishes the poor, they likely have no health insurance. Tax the cigarettes.

Bill Chapman 6 years, 4 months ago

I watched my grandfather die by inches when he was first diagnosed with colon cancer. After that was taken care of, he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer 3 years later. Guess what - he smoked! - at least one pack a day. He didn't quit until the bone cancer was discovered and I think that was because some of the pain meds he was on caused him to puke his guts out if he was smoking when he used them. He almost existed (I won't call that living)for 18 months after the bone cancer was found. He had those lollipop pain suckers at the end - he was using them as fast as he could.

I'm sure that as a smoker(on medicaid) and living off of social security, he was NEVER an increased burden on the health care system. - If you believe that, I've got some swampland in Nevada guaranteed to have gold nuggets the size of your head for sale.

bisky1 6 years, 4 months ago

my experience tells me that most smokers are on the lower end of the pay scale and since the only good tax is a tax on the rich we should move this smokers tax to high priced wines and expensive automobiles, just divde the amount needed by the # of bottles of wine and bmw's and you got your revenue source.

kneejerkreaction 6 years, 4 months ago

Cigarette smokers make me puke. That's why I smoke cigars.

Bone777 6 years, 4 months ago

You want to address another problem of the health care system, lets revisit immigration and worst of all ........... the smoking immigrant

myopinion 6 years, 4 months ago

janeyb says I'm stupid. I'm an idiot. Yep, you are. Overweight people have all of those problems as well, as does the aging population. And I have never seen a newspaper article that said a car wreck was caused by a person "under the influence of tobacco". You need to open your mind to all the problems that run up health care, including all the people who run to the emergency room for non-emergency problems.

janeyb 6 years, 4 months ago

I'm stupid. I'm an idiot. Please, tax the hell out of smokers.

"Cigarette smokers might die of cancer or not"

What a stupid statement. Smokers have a higher rate of all cancers, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and they are noncompliant with treatment--because they won't quit smoking and they can't exercise. For that matter many smokers are obese--until the cancer hits or their struggle to breathe burns up all their calories.

grtrealtor 6 years, 4 months ago

Quit picking on the smokers, who are already taxed to death. Why not just tax each alcoholic drink another quarter, and you'd be making 10 times the amount in additional tax. But people who drink don't bother you? Tell me that when the next drunk driver kills one of YOUR loved ones.

Bone777 6 years, 4 months ago

All I am saying is tax alcohol and fatty foods, also. If you want to blame someone for the health care problems, blame the ones that haven't had HUGE class action suits waged against them already.

mrmoth 6 years, 4 months ago

I'm not denying that obese people are a problem unto themselves. Some of them choose that station in life some of them don't. All smokers choose to smoke. And none of them want to take responsibility for what their choices do to the rest of us.

Bone777 6 years, 4 months ago

mrmouth - If you worked in the health care field you would see that the 'obese' folks cause more problems to our system than the 'people that annoy you'. Cigarette smokers might die of cancer or not, but obese people have all kinds of system failures that they seem to prolong their lives through. I have witnessed many more 'long-term medical problems' from the obese than I have from smokers.

Sorry for your annoyance, beaa aaaahhhhhh tchhhher.

mick 6 years, 4 months ago

Subsidizing the Pharmaceutical and Medical industries is a big mistake. The majority of health problems today are iatrogenic.

mrmoth 6 years, 4 months ago

FYI... For you smokers whining about the unfair taxing, let me let you in on something none of you seem to comprehend: your smoking annoys the hell out of people who don't smoke. You stink, you make other people stink and those of us with healthy lungs who spend any time near your smoke most definitely can feel a soreness in our throats, sinuses and lungs. Your problem is our problem and when it comes time to take care of funding issues, who wouldn't start with the people who annoy us most? psst... that's you

Fat people in McDonald's don't make me smell like french fries. People who don't exercise don't damage the respiratory systems of those of us who do. Old people playing bingo don't make me want to throw up when I walk by them. Do drunks who drive endanger us? You bet and we tax alcohol sales. I only wish the government would start selling marijuana so they could tax it too.

Don't like being the focus of all this attention? Stop being a problem.

ms_canada 6 years, 4 months ago

I didn't answer the question, yes of course, por supuesto, raise the tax on cigs. by all means.

ms_canada 6 years, 4 months ago

Soooooooo, I did some checking around. TOB - .79 for a package of 20 or 7.90 for a carton of 10 pkgs. in Kansas as compared to 12.35 in Canada. or 1.23/pkg. Now about the price of a carton. As of 2002 stats a carton in Saskatchewan was $72.72, In Ontario it was $53.19. New York was $75.70. But I saw a website where you could order 3 cartons of Marlboros for $13.90 per carton. WOW, what the heck do those things taste like and what the heck do they do to your lungs. Sure glad that I quit smoking 50 years ago.

Clint Gentry 6 years, 4 months ago

It's funny that people act as if the smoking is a product of free-will, when actually it is a chemical addiction that is potentially lethal. Why not tax the hell out of smokers? They don't care about their own body, why should we care about their tax rights? By the way, I smoked for 7 years....

Flap Doodle 6 years, 4 months ago

They should tax "fat & spunky" cigarettes more heavily.

JJHawq 6 years, 4 months ago

Old people play bingo more - and old people are a bigger drain on the health care system than young people - therefore, bingo should be taxed at a much higher rate to compensate.

JJHawq 6 years, 4 months ago

A black market bingo ring?

b3 6 years, 4 months ago

Yes, smokers arent real people anyways. Besides they are polluting the environment too.

The_Original_Bob 6 years, 4 months ago

R_I -

I hear there is a black market that ignores the tax.

I concur on the bingo tax being too low.

JJHawq 6 years, 4 months ago

That Bingo Tax needs to go up.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 6 years, 4 months ago

Dang, $3.50 per gram?

Half gram per, $1.75 tax each. 28 grams to an ounce, thats $98 dollars of tax...
You would think people would come up with a way to get around paying the tax...

tishthefish 6 years, 4 months ago

The_Original_Bob (Anonymous) says:

"Whatatown -

Are you implying that we raise children for their organs? Interesting. That is an idea I can get behind."

LOL - excellent reply.

Stop picking on smokers - they're all huddled outside by the patio ash tray and they can't take much more stress.

The_Original_Bob 6 years, 4 months ago

$3.50 per gram.

http://www.ksrevenue.org/pdf/TaxRates.pdf

spammer89 6 years, 4 months ago

I agree if your going to tax smokers for being un-healthy tax everything that is bad for you.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 6 years, 4 months ago

ms_c, I think you get about 40-50 per ounce.
Some roll fat, some roll thin. Maybe T_O_B would be a better source... ...of info.

Flap Doodle 6 years, 4 months ago

ms_c, the federal tax is $0.39 a pack. Each state also adds tax. The current tax per pack in Texas is $1.41.

JJHawq 6 years, 4 months ago

http://www.retirementliving.com/RLstate2.html

.70 per pack if this site is any good.

Taxes by State

Not only would the marijuana tax lead to revenue for the state - it would lead to extra sales tax dollaars at Krispy Kreme, 7-11, Taco Bell, etc.

ms_canada 6 years, 4 months ago

The Excise Tax and Duty was raised by Parliament in Nov. 2001 and is now $12.35 per carton in all of Canada. I don't know how many packages are in a carton. Some of you smokers should know that. Can anyone tell me what it is in Kansas.

Bone777 6 years, 4 months ago

and pants over 40" inches in the waist, shirts over XXL, the Big side of the 'Big and Tall Man Store'....

If we are going to tax the unhealthy and their habits lets tax their whole existance. Alcohol would make a huge amount of money compared to cigarettes, it just doesn't have the stigma attached to it. Fast food, also.

Let's get those fat, drunk, smokin' bastards...

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 6 years, 4 months ago

snap, I guess that Oust/¢ candle is not carbon neutral?

ms_canada 6 years, 4 months ago

Just how much is the tax on a package of cigarettes down there? And is it the same in every state? We have a high tax on tobacco. I will look it up and get back on that amount.

Bone777 6 years, 4 months ago

Yeah. That along with alcohol, fast food, high fructose foods/drinks, couches, recliners, Lane Bryant clothing......

JayhawksandHerd 6 years, 4 months ago

"smokers are disgusting:"

So are a lot of non-smokers.

The_Original_Bob 6 years, 4 months ago

Whatatown -

Are you implying that we raise children for their organs? Interesting. That is an idea I can get behind.

whatatown 6 years, 4 months ago

No No NO. Tax on cigerattes is already ridiculously high, and the last raise had very little affect on the amount of people smoking. As for the argument that smokers will use the health care system more, so freakin' what! I would like to say that I do not have children, nor do I plan to. I pay for your snot-nose brats schooling and have no say in the matter, so when I am old you can return the favor by getting me a lung transplant.

Kevin Sontag 6 years, 4 months ago

Smokers make my clothes stink.

Tax 'em! Then tax 'em again!

Flap Doodle 6 years, 4 months ago

I could use a couple of carbon credits over here........

bobberboy 6 years, 4 months ago

Yea but look out - you don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Defender 6 years, 4 months ago

Sorry, this is stupid, and so is anyone who supports it. Yes, this means you, idiot. Just for the record, I do not smoke, at all.

happygolucky 6 years, 4 months ago

JJHawq has a good idea. We should run with that. To bad we can't light up a joint and play some pool. I'm sure the smoking ban would cover that as well.

snake_eyes 6 years, 4 months ago

they should use the extra tax to put exploding devices in every cigarette so that every smoker would blow up. think of it as just speeding up the process for them. smokers are disgusting...

75x55 6 years, 4 months ago

JJHawq - now that is an idea.

That way, we can get all the dope smokers to vote conservative!

sunflower_sue 6 years, 4 months ago

Only if the tax money goes directly to programs for cigarette smoke induced illnesses.

JJHawq 6 years, 4 months ago

Legalize marijuana and tax it.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 6 years, 4 months ago

Snap, Bottom burps are semi-taxed already.
This is the idea behind carbon credits.
I blame Al Gore. Damn Pigovians.

BABBOY 6 years, 4 months ago

Sure. I do not smoke.

Smoke them if you got them.

northtown 6 years, 4 months ago

Good idea,but what about everything else that kills you!! And then the public,or those that need help with heatlh care would never see the money!! So why bother,The smokers will smoke no matter what the cost , so just leave it alone. The people who need the help would never see the money for the health care!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Juts more lies!!!!!!!!!!!! And i do not smoke or drink and do not even care what they do ,if they want to do it do it,you risk your life just walking outside these days!!!!!!!

cowboy 6 years, 4 months ago

Using this logic all non smokers will live forever and never have any health related costs. Seems to be an issue of we can raise some money off the smokers backs plain and simple. Where did the state spend the windfalls they all received years ago in the big settlement. As long as we let gov't nickle and dime our incomes then wastefully spend it we will see proposals like this over and over.I don't see it changing in my lifetime. The public needs to tell our reps no new taxes period , figure it out and set some priorities then live within your budget , like all of us have to on a daily basis.

I find it interesting that over the past couple of years we have seen companies either charging more for health care to smokers or flat out not employing them , and now were seeing obesity or even mild overweight being targeted , whats next diabetics , asthmatics , health cops . The world is F'ed up.

Flap Doodle 6 years, 4 months ago

Tax bottom burps.

The_Original_Bob 6 years, 4 months ago

I'm for it as long as the tax also penalizes those that eat Big Macs, ride motorcycles, or sunbathe.

jonas 6 years, 4 months ago

"I'm as addicted to driving as the next person, but the higher prices really haven't been a deterrent to my behavior."

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. America and its cities, especially in the midwest, have been largely made to necessitate driving. That may not be the principle reason behind decisions, per se, but certainly a taken-for-granted factor, I think.

jonas 6 years, 4 months ago

4125: "Say it like it is - we're going to raise your cigarette taxes because you're an addict and you'll get the money somehow and we'll get our extortionary cut. Taxing addicts - yeah, that's 'the right thing to do'."

You forgot the idea that a large percentage (85%) of our population would see this as a way of pushing any responsibilities they might have otherwise had on somebody else. Always a popular method.

thomgreen 6 years, 4 months ago

I thought I read somewhere that the New England Journal of Medicine had done a study that showed medical costs would actually rise significantly in the long term if people ended up not smoking. There would be significant short term benefits, but as more people quit, they would end up living longer and incurring more medical expenses than if they had stayed a smoker and died sooner.
I might be wrong. But, then again, the state might be betting on the notion that smokers (or any other addict) won't quit smoking even if the taxes are raised. Look at gas prices. I'm as addicted to driving as the next person, but the higher prices really haven't been a deterrent to my behavior. The higher prices have just lined the pockets of someone else and caused me to be grumpier when I fill up.

KS 6 years, 4 months ago

Sure, why not? Then when everyone quits smoking they can come at the rest of us and increase our taxes for all the programs that they started and don't have any revenue to supoort. Who comes up this stuff?

jumpin_catfish 6 years, 4 months ago

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES I say Yes!

75x55 6 years, 4 months ago

Why not just beat them senseless and take ALL their money? Then they'll stop smoking...

Ridiculous. How many times has this 'reason' been used already to raise taxes? Every time, regularly.

Say it like it is - we're going to raise your cigarette taxes because you're an addict and you'll get the money somehow and we'll get our extortionary cut. Taxing addicts - yeah, that's 'the right thing to do'.

Woodduck_5363 6 years, 4 months ago

Why!!! It seems to me that everyone has jumped on this band-wagon for too long. Smoking as well as the foods we now eat keeps us in bad health, drugs hurts the medical system whether legal or non- legal. Alcohol what about that isn't this a medical issue???

Stop beating a dead horse and and get back to common sense. Don't we have enough stress and confusion going on in our lives. Is it due to smoking I think not. We pay out the wazoo for taxes now what will be next and you have no say so no vote for many of these issues in Kansas.

Wake up people I thought that dictatatorship was in other countries.

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