# No one who makes under $250,000/yr uses tobacco products **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 2, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685 "2009-04-02T04:54:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/81 "2009-04-05T17:18:45Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Of that we are all in agreement but that’s like saying nobody has to buy property in response to a rise in property taxes. Not really. Everyone has to pay property taxes, even if you rent it’s rolled into the price of your rent. It’s more like a tax on gambling, load exhaust pipes, or something. People need shelter, it’s in the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy. They don’t need cancer sticks. edit: > [@Magiver](#): > > Obama made the political sin of saying “no new taxes on the little guy” when in fact he HAS to raise taxes (on a rather large scale) to cover the programs he has proposed. the reality of it is that many programs will never see the light of day and everybody will pay more taxes. Oh and what programs are those? If you mean things like single payer healthcare it’ll be obstructionists like republicans crying like babies and throwing a tantrum with filibusters and interfering with the collective democratic will of the country that’ll make that hard to get through. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/82 "2009-04-06T03:48:59Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Not really. Everyone has to pay property taxes, even if you rent it’s rolled into the price of your rent. You left out government housing and section 8 folks who don’t pay the tax. > [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > They don’t need cancer sticks. ``` What they don't need is people telling them what they don't need. ``` ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/83 "2009-04-06T04:09:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > You left out government housing and section 8 folks who don’t pay the tax. Oh goodie. I guess we should all be poor enough to qualify for section 8 housing. That’ll show him! Never mind the multitude of other problems that come with being poor. > [@](#): > > ``` > What they don't need is people telling them what they don't need. > > ``` So you’re putting fourth the assertion that not smoking is just as bad as being homeless? Or that people should be able to decide if smoking is important as a home? Because that’s pretty stupid, and people are entitled to their opinion, but anyone who thinks that should put away the crack pipe. When deciding what to tax value judgments will have to be made, and this could save some lives. It already convinced my mom to give quitting a go. So here’s hoping. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/84 "2009-04-06T04:28:01Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Oh goodie. I guess we should all be poor enough to qualify for section 8 housing. That’ll show him! Never mind the multitude of other problems that come with being poor. > > So you’re putting fourth the assertion that not smoking is just as bad as being homeless? Or that people should be able to decide if smoking is important as a home? > > Because that’s pretty stupid, and people are entitled to their opinion, but anyone who thinks that should put away the crack pipe. > > When deciding what to tax value judgments will have to be made, and this could save some lives. It already convinced my mom to give quitting a go. So here’s hoping. All your nonsense is a redirect away from the fact that Obama raised taxes on people of which the vast majority earn less then $250,000 year. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/85 "2009-04-06T08:26:49Z")
This is, in fact, an attempt by Obama to lower taxes for people making under $250,000 a year. The purpose of a “sin” tax is to discourage people from using the taxed product. The higher the tax, the stronger the disincentive to use the product. By increasing the tax on cigarettes, Obama is encouraging people to stop smoking, thereby avoiding not only the new tax, but the taxes that were already in place before he came into office. Thus, their tax burden is actually decreased. See? Another campaign promise kept. Go Obama! ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/86 "2009-04-06T14:07:53Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Well that’s true, but the point I was making is no one is forcing them to be smokers. Gah! This is killing me. Their addictions are forcing them to be smokers! I was a smoker for more than 20 years. Tried to quit I don’t even know how many times before I was finally successful. Most people don’t want to smoke. If quitting were easy, everyone would do it. You are advocating for a tax on a substance that people are physically compelled to use. And poor people by an overwhelming margin! You anti-smoking crowd are some cold, unfeeling people. What I would like to happen is to see a huge chunk of this tax going to providing free smoking cessation programs. Instead of making smokers pay $20 for a box of nicotene patches, or $100 for Chantix, how about providing it for free and actually making a difference in getting people to quit smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685/87 "2009-04-06T14:44:55Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > bama did not make teachers exempt from the tax so that is incorrect. Nor did he make people who make more than $250,000 / year exempt from the tax. > [@](#): > > People who make less than $250,000 smoke. More people below the poverty level smoke than above it ([32.3 versus 23.5](http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/tobacco/demographics_tobacco.htm)). Obama taxed cigarrets so therefore he has placed a tax that is directed at people making less than $250,000. Are you also arguing that this tax was directed at residents of Nevada? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-one-who-makes-under-250-000-yr-uses-tobacco-products/491685.md?page=4)