# Fuck Cigarette Prices!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 17, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507 "2002-05-17T06:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/101 "2002-05-23T19:02:17Z")
Fair enough **minty** , My only beef is that what you call whining, I call being vocal about being taken advantage of by the government. They don’t really want anyone to stop smoking, that would be a great loss of revenue for them. They say these taxes are to offset the costs of heathcare, but many would argue that smokers don’t tax the system as much because they die sooner. I have a cite somewhere in this thread that explains it in more detail. So if questioning these practices makes me a whiner, then so is anyone that questions the crap that this goverment dishes out “in the name of the children”. And yes, cuban cigars are a wonderful thing. I’d stop smoking cigarettes today if they were readily available. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/102 "2002-05-23T19:25:08Z")
> [@](#): > > They don’t really want anyone to stop smoking, that would be a great loss of revenue for them. Actually, I think that’s quite incorrect. Motives vary, of course, but I don’t think you can seriously argue that _none_ of the representatives who voted for those increased taxes did it for the purpose of lowering smoking rates. Plenty of interest groups certainly supported higher taxes for that very reason, and I suspect you could find a lot of anti-smoking statements by our representatives in the legislative history. > [@](#): > > And yes, cuban cigars are a wonderful thing. I’d stop smoking cigarettes today if they were readily available. The drug dogs at the airport do not appear to be trained to identify illicit tobacco. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/103 "2002-05-23T19:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by musicguy \* > So if questioning these practices makes me a whiner, then so is anyone that questions the crap that this goverment dishes out “in the name of the children”. I agree with you there, but only to a point. The focus of the OP, and of most of the smokers who popped by to support the OP, was about how the taxes and otehr restrictions affected _them_. That’s just complaining, or–since I believe it’s unjustified complaining–whining. If someone wants want to question the wisdom of a particular government action, do so on the merits, not on how it affects you personally. Otherwise, you’re little different from a farmer asking for increased ethanol subsidies or an energy company looking for tax credits for offshore drilling. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/104 "2002-05-23T20:36:22Z")
Then we are probably more in agreement than I had originally assumed. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/105 "2002-05-23T20:59:03Z")
Kum-ba-yaaaaaa, my lord, kum-ba-ya. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/106 "2002-05-23T23:20:49Z")
I quit smoking a year ago, but I still love reading about the ways the anti smoking crowd goes about their business (half truths, misstatements and things not said): This is from this site: [http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact02.html](http://www.ash.org.uk/html/factsheets/html/fact02.html) > [@](#): > > Smoking has more than 50 ways of making life a misery through illness and more than 20 ways of killing you. …and nothing else does? Note also they don’t quote the 50/20 ways. 😃 > [@](#): > > In general, smokers endure poorer health than non-smokers. It has been estimated that, in England, 284,000 patients are admitted to NHS hospitals each year due to disease caused by smoking… ‘In general’, ‘estimated’??? :rolleyes: . I suppose non smokers have ‘rich’ health and no one else is ever admitted to the hospitals??? :eek: > [@](#): > > …occupying an average of 9,500 hospital beds every day. In addition, smoking related illness accounts for 8 million consultations with GPs and over 7 million prescriptions each year. I s’pose no one else goes to the hospital, gets a consultation or gets a prescription. 😉 FTR what is a **smoking related** illness, also while they’re at it define a **non-smoking related illness**. > [@](#): > > Half of all teenagers who are currently smoking will die from diseases caused by tobacco if they continue to smoke. One quarter will die after 70 years of age and one quarter before, with those dying before 70 losing on average 23 years of life. It is estimated that between 1950 and 2000 six million Britons, 60 million people worldwide, would have died from tobacco-related diseases. First they’re talking about England, then the world and it’s all mixed up with dire estimations. They also lost me on the math. :wally ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/107 "2002-05-23T23:52:23Z")
Oh, now I’m asking that everyone leave me 100% alone? I thought I just wanted the government to not fucking tax my vice anymore. I figure all that clean air would allow you to think clearer, but maye that’s just a UL. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/108 "2002-05-24T00:04:30Z")
So how am I supposed to reconcile this: > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by erislover_ > Oh, now I’m asking that everyone leave me 100% alone? I thought I just wanted the government to not fucking tax my vice anymore. with this: > [@](#): > > Trying to make all the smokers like prisoners and soldiers? Just want to show off that you can have power over us? What the fuck? We retreated from restatraunts. We backed off from busses and movie theaters. We left 'em at home when you asked us not to smoke at your house. We no longer smoke at the office… if we’re lucky you’ve designated a small portion of your precious “work environment” (why it is not also our work environment was never stated) with which to smoke. What fucking more can we do and keep our vice? Apparently line the fucking government’s coffers. And then what? Should we just foget the tax and bribe you directly? Or does that come after the tax? > > God bless the fucking slippery slope because you’re sending us right down it. Get out of my fucking life already you fucking bastards. ? ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/109 "2002-05-24T01:34:02Z")
[Context.](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=context) Read the thread title and consider the subject of the thread, then read my post you just quoted, and note the topic of that paragraph (hint: the shit we put up with over cigarettes). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/110 "2002-05-24T02:14:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > (hint: the shit we put up with over cigarettes). In other words, whining about your habit. 😛 Hey, in all seriousness, I have no real problem with the act of smoking. Like I said, I occasionally have one myself, and I look forward to consuming the embargo-busting by-products of my recent trip. But ya know, cigarette smoke does legitimately annoy a whole lot of people, it poses an actual health risk to a small minority of people, and there does appear to be a small overall health risk from exposure to second-hand smoke. And cigarette butt litter pisses me off quite righteously. So feel free to blacken your lungs to your heart-diseased content, even though most of you by now have little choice in the matter. But at least have the courtesy to minimize your impact on everyone else. In common areas, smoke in designated areas or outside, without congregating next to the building entrance. Don’t complain about measures, however juvenile, taken to dissuade kids from taking up the habit. If the kiddies want to start when they’re adults, more lung power to them. And most importantly, don’t throw your butts on the ground, buttwipes! Goddamn, I _hate_ that toxic cloud of ignorance that descends upon the nicotine-addicted, convincing them that they can they are morally entitled to drop their refuse wherever the hell they feel like. I am still pissed off about climbing to Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas . . . and finding dozens of cigarettte butts all over the peak. But if somebody tells you not to light one up at a bar, tell 'em to fuck off. For me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/111 "2002-05-24T02:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > In other words, whining about your habit. Man, if all that happened was whining I’d treat it like no big deal. It’s the wallet people are digging their fingers in that is crying out (again, vicariously). > [@](#): > > …tell 'em to fuck off. For me. With that, and recalling your inestimable wit, **minty** , I declare me un-mad. _For now_… ::cute, but decidedly evil, grin:: ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/112 "2002-05-24T02:58:16Z")
Remember, erl: I’m male and decidedly straight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/113 "2002-05-24T09:47:55Z")
Wait a minute! I want in on a bit of this love. But I ain’t kissing no smokers on the lips. pan ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/114 "2002-05-24T10:01:27Z")
☹ Ah go on. I wont use tongue but I’ll squeeze your ass 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/115 "2002-05-24T10:23:59Z")
Dude! ---
**Author:** ![domesticatedjunglefowl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b38774/32.png) [@domesticatedjunglefowl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domesticatedjunglefowl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/116 "2002-05-25T22:13:58Z")
in january, i switched to ‘rollies’ i am personally disgusted to the idea of switching back to prerolled. 1. the ‘rotgut’ brand TOP is at least as good as a pack of reds. 2. I spend roughly 2.50 a day on smokes at the most (gauliouses caporal , jester, or drum all are yum-yum!)when i used to spend about 3.50 at the least 3. if i’m gonna have a destructive vice, i might as well make it more essentric. (even if you think you can’t roll well, just smoke your crappily rolled ones and you’ll pick it up quick!) ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/117 "2002-05-25T23:52:04Z")
Dude, buying the cans of something like Zig Zag or Bugler should be even cheaper. Enjoy it now, the government can’t stay away for long. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/118 "2002-05-26T14:34:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\*That depends how you define “outrageous”. > > I don’t find it the least bit outrageous. > > pan \*\* Outrageous - We have a 7% federal tax applied to just about everything that the government deems nonessential. Products that the government deems detrimental to our health also have additional taxes applied to them. That ice cold beer that I will be enjoying at the pub later shouldn’t cost me nearly four dollars… but it will. That’s really fucking outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/119 "2002-05-27T09:59:02Z")
Again, your opinion. I personally think that of all the ways in which a government can levy the funds that it needs in order to pursue the programs it wishes, a tax on products that are not only luxuries but are downright destructive to the individual, third parties and society’s funding is not the least bit outrageous. pan ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507/120 "2002-05-27T16:20:12Z")
Let’s forget our personal opinions and look at the facts: We have already seen what OVERtaxation and regulation cause here. Anyone who lived in Quebec in the early nineties was paying around $50.00 for a carton of cigarettes, not quite as much people are paying now but close. Despite the increased taxes on tobacco and alcohol the government was actually losing revenue because this high level of taxation and regulation spawned a massive underground market for these and other products. Otherwise law abiding citizens rebelled at what was seen as tyranny on the part of the government. In addition to lost revenue the government was forced to spend more money on enforcing what was seen as an unfair level of taxation. In 1994 the government and province of Quebec backed down and reduced the price of cigarettes by $20.00, the smuggling was estimated to have been reduced by 80 - 90%. Our government seems to have a very short memory, at this time our Prime Minister suggested that once the smuggling networks have been dismantled the appropriate levels of taxation can be restored. Now that the appropriate levels of taxation have been restored we can expect that smuggling will again hit a new high and it has already begun. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to figurre this out. We have several native friends who have already offered to purchase cigarettes for us as they are exempt from paying taxes. The sales on reservations across Canada have soared, not because our indiginous peoples have suddenly taken up smoking en masse but because of the black market for cigarettes is booming. Officers from Revenue Canada have been posted at stores and have been monitoring people’s purchases and the people aren’t happy. Indian Affairs has received at least one complaint and request that these officers be removed. Nobody likes to have big brother looking over their shoulder and I agree that they should boot these guys collective asses back to Ottawa or wherever they came from. This black market doesn’t only carry tobacco and alcohol, there is a multitude of tax free products available to anyone who wishes to obtain them. Thus ends the factual portion of my post. I wonder how long it will take for the government to get it this time? Wait… they aren’t rocket scientists are they? We don’t mind paying what we consider reasonable taxes and can appreciate that those tax monies go toward paying for a great number of programs. I figure that if we are going to have the same taxation level approaching that of Sweden I want the same perks and benefits too. I could have used a lengthy paid paternity leave and a free University education would save me a whole bunch of money. The people here who smoke, drink alcohol, drive cars, wear jewellery, eat fast food, eat junk food, wear clothes, dine out, eat ice cream, drink coffee, etc. etc. etc. pay a shitload of taxes and it seems that people are saying enough is fucking enough. I heard a rumour (probably false) that the government was even thinking of levying an additional tax on fast food. There would be open revolt on the part of the people and I am sure many would be calling for Cretien and Martin’s heads… on a pike. Some people would already would like to see that happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-cigarette-prices/109507.md?page=5)