Finally, someone gets it!
New York may have passed the cigar tax already, but we all know that doesn’t mean it will work. The latest from Bankrate, in fact, implies that the OTP tax will crash and burn … and has the right reasoning. I’d love for the rest of the media to take a close look at the Bankrate article: it makes sense.
When it comes to all the “benefits” of higher tobacco taxes – from cutting product consumption to reducing state healthcare costs and revenue generation – Bankrate says that lawmakers have a dirty little secret about what drives tax decisions: “They’re lying.”
The taxes, as I’ve contended for a while (and emphasized in an article earlier today), do not exist to advance public health agendas or put the cigar industry out of business. The only goal is cash:
States, and it is mostly states doing this, are raising these taxes because they’re running out of money. Targeting our vices at least gives them some moral cover.
So if you’re still smoking or drinking or doing whatever is deemed unhealthy, such as artificially tanning, thanks for your contributions to government operations.
via Bankrate, photo by Tracy O via Flickr
Tags: cigar buiness, cigar taxes, New York, OTP, politics, taxes, tobacco taxes
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