July 18, 2005
um, what?
more about the tobacco/cigarette tax in the Star Tribune.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5511397.html
"Smokers are the most discriminated minority in the U.S. today,"
ok, minority is a loaded term. technically it only means that there are less smokers than non-smokers, but a main connotation of the word "minority" is that it's a difference that cannot be helped. you aren't born with a cigarette in your mouth.
Posted by john guari at July 18, 2005 05:25 PM
*ROLLS EYES SO MUCH THAT THEY'RE ROLLED ALL THE WAY BACK INTO HER HEAD AND ARE LOOKING AT HER BRAIN*
They're saying that even though they sell a product that kills 1200 people a day, the fact that it makes them MONEY should make it so nobody can put laws or taxes or anything on it? Because heaven forbid they have to find new JOBS. Because there aren't any people out there having to work two jobs to pay for the hospital bills that are coming as a result of their loved one's emphysema or lung cancer or whatever.
"Cigarette store owners don't kill people! Cigarettes do!"
People are all for progress and doing good for society, but if it involves THEIR money, they want no part in it. Oh my, was that a little too liberal of me? I'll be quiet now.
(By the way, California has had at least a 25 cent surtax on cigarettes since 1988, and it's just gone up since then. We use it to fund health education.)
granted, the store in this article was mainly a pipe tobacco store and did not sell very many packs of cigarettes at all, i agree that the fact remains that your family business involves SELLING A POISON.
I hate it when people look at tobacco as a necessity item rather than a luxury item.
I'm all for a major tobacco tax. If it gets us more money to fund public works (education, roads, random wars in Asia, etc.) and discourages people from smoking - what's the downside?
It's hard to feel bad for someone that is an addict, though, because they did it to themselves and there are effective ways of countering the addiction if they would put forth the effort. It's like alcoholism - there's always a Hazelton (sp?) and there's always another option than remaining addicted and dying young.
P.S. Minority is a strange term in general. As an Armenian, I'm DEFINITELY a minority.....even though I'm a middle-class white male. Funny how that works.