Washington Post Editorial 8-3-14

[tuold]

Tobacco was once a pleasure of the masses enjoyed by rich and poor. Now, like every other activity that brings temporary relief or distraction from our every day cares, it is becoming exclusive to the rich who can pay the taxes. (Or who can pay without an undue strain on their budget). And it's not the free market that is driving up the costs. It's our leadership.
I've heard a forum member come out in support of "sin" taxes in the past saying that it seems just that smoking is a rich man's diversion and should be taxed in order to support the improvements in the lives of the lower classes.(That's everyone except the person making the rules) I didn't respond then, but I will now. I believe the "lower classes" have the same right to pursue happiness just as much as anyone else despite their social or economic status and that we all should happily bear whatever burdens that may bring. It's part of living in a tolerant society.
The tax system in the U.S. instead of being used to fund the necessary cost of conducting government affairs now is a political tool used to punish those disliked by those in power and to deny them the things or activities they want. This has become all too clear recently with current IRS scandals. "We don't like tobacco. We don't like guns. We don't like your politics. We DO like your money". It's an extremely parasitic paradigm and it's one that will eventually kill its host when the supply of "sin" runs low. "No more smokers! Mission accomplished!" Now no income stream for children's health programs and school lunches! It's all madness....
Ok, I'm stepping off the soapbox now. Next!

 

[woodsroad]

Don't stop now, tuold, yer on a roll.

Please continue.

 

[jguss]

like i needed another reason not to read the washington post.
forty years ago watergate, and now pipe tobacco. even by their standards there's been a bit of a decline in the urgency of what they've chosen to spotlight.

 

[ssjones]

Gigger: Before you plan your trip to Canada, I'd read up on border regulations...
Here's hoping the Cigar lobby stays strong and keeps an arm around our shoulder, that is our only hope.

 

[longbowman]

Well, the Great Father in Washington seeks to extract money from your pocket to "protect" everyone's health so he can purchase bombs and compromise the health of people in other countries. See how that works? The difference between the government and an armed robber? The government has bigger guns and more of them. The "children" are used as the excuse for everything from tobacco taxes to firearms confiscation schemes. But from what I've seen of many parents these days, they themselves don't appear to be that concerned with the health and welfare of their own kids. "Now, Billy, stop playing in the road or Mommy will give you a time out..." Tobacco taxes are penalties enacted against persons the government deems they can tax with little popular protest. Simple as that.

 

[weezell]

taxes are penalties enacted against persons the government deems they can tax with little popular protest. Simple as that.

SHEEPLE...

 

[zekest]

Y'all know that the Washington Post is not a real "news" paper, right??
Calling The Washington Post a "news" paper is kinda like calling MSNBC a cable "news" program.

 

[longbowman]

Now, now, the Washington Post does serve a useful function. One of my neighbors reads it and lets me have it afterwards. I have two pet birds and have to line their cage with something. The birds object to this, of course. But, hey, they don't have to read it. That's not what it's there for. It's there for the function it is best suited for. That's all.

 

[aristokles]

The rag is also good for wrapping fish.
TAX newspapers!

 

[mkvillaire]

Trailboss,
I find it interesting that in the first sentence of your first post to this thread you mention that this is coming from the position of curtailing personal freedoms that "they" find offensive. You then talk about the authors beliefs. I can reasonably assume that you don't agree with those beliefs. Wouldn't you agree that laws against things like gay rights and marijuana curtail personal freedoms for those who support it to appease those who may find it offensive? In addition you go on to talk about prohibition and how it doesn't work. I couldn't agree with you more on that, especially with regard to marijuana. Your post sounds a little hypocritical. Just sayin.
P.S. - please provide credible sources to prove that marijuana does far more harm than tobacco.

 

[wyfbane]

Dope smoking IS bad, mmmkay? Actually I don't mind what is done in the home, but like a great many other things it is presented as all hunky dory so that the proponents can get their will done, politically. Personally I find the smell atrocious.

 

[mkvillaire]

Wyfbane,
Soth Park references are not credible sources, lol. I do understand your point about some proponents making the "hunky dory" claim. Of course marijuana is not harmless, nor is tobacco. However we still get the occasional comment of pipe smoking adds to life span based on a report from 50 years ago. Does anybody really believe that? Both should be personal choices and neither should be prohibited because some don't like it. If we want our personal freedoms protected then we must also protect the personal freedoms of others, even if we don't necessarily agree.

 

[mso489]

Borrowing from my post on another thread here:

I'm some kind of an optimistic space cadet, I guess, but the idea that they will create a black market that will

criminalize pipe tobacco strikes me as so absurd it can't happen, although it seems it is somewhat likely.

Cans of PA under the bed. Simply nuts. I guess Denture Cream is next; three hundred percent tax and

the oldsters will have to buy it on the corner and the cops can throw them in the slammer and strip search

them.