$6.17 a pack and 59.17 a cartoon for Marlboro's here in Michigan.

[sarcasmo]

I don't smoke, but damn what a screw job you smokers are getting. I saw the numbers at the local gas station and my jaw just dropped , any smokers feeling the tax hike?

[MrSlayer]

1. I just received my $15 a carton Marlboros in the mail.

I don't get screwed, I do the screwing.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Are they real Marlboros?

Good for you!

I quit smoking a lot of years ago, but the prices today are absurd. Talk about demonizing something that was perfectly legal and even governmentally encouraged until not too long ago.

Ah, those PC nazis out there. They are in for such a shock when they find out they're gonna die, just like all of us.

So, where do you get them at that excellent price?

[sarcasmo]

6. I don't even smoke and I would agree with you about the price being absurd.

[MrSlayer]

50. Yeah they're real.

They're made in Switzerland and shipped from Russia. No difference in taste. It just takes a month for them to get here.

http://www.cigoutlet.net/

[MercutioATC]

55. Ohio (and other states) have been cracking down on mail-order cigarettes.

Last year, there was a woman in the news that got a tax bill for something like $500 for the taxes she didn't pay on mail-order smokes.

[MrSlayer]

61. These guys do not report the sales.

And they send them discreetly.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

59. I just sent that link to my favorite smoker -

you made a man down in the Florida Keys very happy, and I thank you.

:toast:

[friedgreentomatoes]

5. How much longer till they attack that too? n/t

[robinlynne]

7. how where? I jsut started rolling my own. couldn't take the price.

learned from a blogger here on DU.

[imdjh]

18. I've done that. It's a good way to cut down.

If you have to roll one before you can smoke it. They tend to be short cigarettes too. So you get a jolt and you can go back in the house before you freeze/sweat.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

46. our price on loose tobacco just doubled...

$23 a lb. to $47. I am so ticked off. I want to quit anyway, but now it feels like I'm being FORCED to.

[MrSlayer]

53. Here.

http://www.cigoutlet.net/

It takes 3-4 weeks for delivery though. I've been re-ordering as soon as I receive them to keep the smoke nazis out of my pocket.

[robinlynne]

76. omg. fantastic!

[GKirk]

11. If you are buying them too...

...smoke your self it's just your lungs getting screwed. :)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

65. I started buying my Dunhills from Israel. $2.60 a pack

Fuck em! If the people at the top don't have to obey the law, neither do we.

I was willing to pay a reasonable amount of tax while supporting my addiction. The addiction I was programmed into since childhood by the tobacco industry, however, if our corporate criminals think that they can balance their budget by increasing taxes on my addiction, I have no choice but to become a criminal. So be it. I am now outside the law. Fuck em!

[ohheckyeah]

86. Would you mind sharing a link to the site you used?

I ordered from one company almost 3 weeks ago and haven't received a thing.

[MrSlayer]

87. Here you go.

http://www.cigoutlet.net/

If you ordered from these guys you should have them by next week. It's never taken more than 4 weeks for me to get em.

[ohheckyeah]

105. Thanks very much.

I was starting to wonder if it was a rip off. Hopefully I'll get them next week.

[Bandit]

103. Maybe not the smartest thing to be bragging about federal tax evasion on a public site.

Just saying....:shrug: I understand you think you are anonymous here...

[MrSlayer]

106. I was only kidding.

I would never do such a thing. People lie on the internet all the time.

[friedgreentomatoes]

2. I am.

Here in Maryland we used to buy $5+ a pack. I don't know how much it is now. Last time I went to VA i got a whole bunch for myself. What I hear is they are $5+ in VA itself, whereas last Oct I bought for $32/carton.
Feeling the pinch? Yes.
Gonna quit "because of that"? NO

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Over $9 for American Spirits in Boston

About $7.50 in Western MA.

That's why we go to NH. Tax free, $5.40 a pack.

[friedgreentomatoes]

10. I try to get some whenever I go to VA.

Same story, tax free.
But with the current increase, it was about $20/carton increase in VA too, bringing it up to $50+ /carton

[TheBigotBasher]

56. Around $8 a pack in the UK

and that goes up each year. We even pay sales tax on the tax.

[Mopar151]

80. We're only kinda tax-free.

Did'nt they just go up a buck a pack? Really, our taxes are low here - but brotha, we got fees....

[GKirk]

8. Several stores in my part of Michigan...

...are selling cigarettes by the single cigarette. Fifty cents a piece.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. When we were kids,

a long, long time ago, we could buy single cigarettes three for a nickel. Matches were two books for a penny.

Inflation - what a bitch ......

[imdjh]

9. Strange behavior

A week before the cig tax went into effect, the price of cigs went up. Clearly, the cigarette companies or merchants were gouging. One might figure the cig companies were trying to get a shot in the arm in anticipation of losing revenues as people quit. I think what they were really doing was seeing if there was going to be a mass quitting. When it didn't happen, they appear to have lowered the price of the cigarettes so that the tax won't hurt so much, which is what you might expect them to do given the profit margin on cigs.

Anyway, my brand went from $12.99 per carton plus tax, to $22.99 plus tax, and now it's down to $17.99 plus tax

[friedgreentomatoes]

12. Which brand is that? so cheap? n/t

[imdjh]

23. We have several cheap brands here, none of which have I seen in Maryland

I bought cigs in Maryland in Stevensville and near Ocean City and they were disgustingly expensive. I can't believe I forgot to stock up before leaving Florida. You don't have the offbrand selection that we do, but even ours are only available in corner stores owned by Middle Easterners and (east) Indians.

Hava
GPC
Westport
Union

The Westports are very similar to Marlboro products, Hava is tolerable but not quite as good. GPC and Union are better than nothing.

[Lilith Velkor]

78. Gutter Punk Cigs!

Ah, memories...

[Codeine]

62. It was the companies and distributors, not the merchants.

Most merchants have price contracts with the various companies that give us breaks in exchange for certain pricing. We basically price as we're instructed.

[mike_c]

13. wow-- when I started smoking, back in 1970 or so...

...Marlboros could occasionally be had for 35 cents a pack, and were NEVER more than 50 cents. 'Course I stopped smoking when they reached the outrageous price of $2.00 or so, back in the 1980s.

[TahitiNut]

14. Wielding the tax laws as a PUNISHMENT for 'unapproved' appetites is just wrong.

I'm frequently appalled by the ethical corruption of folks who call themselves 'liberal' or 'progressive.' Any flavor of sociopathy is just sociopathy. Disgusting.

[sarcasmo]

19. Makes you wonder why they have not done the same thing with Alcohol.

[JVS]

20. If they try that there's going to be a lot of homemade hootch.

[TahitiNut]

37. They did. It was called Prohibition. In fact, alcohol was prohibited on military bases ...

... both BEFORE and AFTER Prohibition ... due to the temperance crowd (many of whom were the same folks pressing for women's enfranchisement - i.e. 'liberals').

As I've said before, I'm a liberal because I'm supportive of EQUAL rights - EVERYONE - and not just MY OWN. It's easy (and deceitful) to call one's self a 'liberal' or 'progressive' and act SOLELY in support of one's own self interests, be one a female, a minority race, a minority religious affiliation, or a GBLT person. The "rubber hits the road" when it comes to standing up and putting 'skin in the game' for the equal rights of others. I became a life-long member of the ACLU when they defended the Nazi's right to march in Skokie. It's hard to find a more reprehensible crowd than the American Nazi Party ... but it IS a matter of principle.

When I echo the sentiment that "I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to my death your right to say it" I'm not merely talking. That's a walk I've walked and will walk, forever. And speech is just ONE of the liberties to which I make that commitment. The principle is dearer to me than life itself. It has to be.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

60. That's the American way ...........

A lot of people wouldn't agree with you, but they would be wrong.

As a brand-new young lawyer, I was yanked into the Skokie case, thanks to my brand-new volunteer status in the ACLU. I really hadn't anticipated defending Nazis any time in my career, but it was one of the most important things I've ever done, and I learned a lesson - a very good lesson - from the older lawyers on the case, the ones who were in charge (I was mostly a gopher), that the most hateful speech is the stuff that needs the most protection if we are going to be a civilized society.

I've never forgotten that, and, because of it, I learned early on how to take a punch. I suspect you have, too, but every time I see or hear someone express your sentiments, I realize that it's all been well worth it.

Carry on, bro'................

:toast:

[TahitiNut]

67. You get it. Just another reason ...

... to like and respect you. :fistbump:

(People who agree with me always seem more enlightened than most.) :silly:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

70. Have you noticed?

People who share our tender and hard-won sensibilities seem so hugely gifted............

:toast:

[imdjh]

68. There was another side to that, though.

You could see the nazi message as free speech, or idle threats.

Or you could see the nazi message as a credible threat, which had been made good in the past.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

69. Yes, it's always a balancing test............

and one must always weigh the competing interests. That's what made the Skokie case so important and so compelling.

Ultimately, of course, it was an academic exercise, but it was a most dramatic and enlightening time. I was very lucky...............

[TahitiNut]

71. It's so easy to regard disagreement as threatening, isn't it?

After all, how many times DAILY do we see an attack on what we SAY as a personal attack?

:eyes:

[autorank]

90. It's their way of putting off a revolution;)

[LuvNewcastle]

15. I smoke an off-brand.

They are now about $18 a carton. I saw a Marlboro sign here advertising for $35 a carton and I thought that was outrageous. I don't know what I'd do if I lived in MI.

[ohheckyeah]

88. I smoke More's and they are

$54 a carton now.

[doctor jazz]

16. I feel for them. I smoked for 45 years...quit in July 07

mostly because my brand went up to $18 a carton, can't even imagine paying 30 cents for a cig. :scared:

[Skidmore]

17. Dying of lung cancer and emphysema....priceless.

Both my father and my brother were heavy smokers and died this way. Not a pleasant experience watching loved ones gasp for air while their lives ebb away.

[SoCalDem]

21. There goes the "children's health care"..up in smoke

many people will just say no..and will quit.. It will be good for THEM, but now where will the money for the kids' care come from?? pizza? donuts? beer? wine? potato chips? cookies? soda pop?

this is the problem with "sin-taxes".. people who do not "sin" are uproariously happy to see the "sinners" punished....BUT the "sinners' will be driven "underground" to sin in private (there will always be "cheap cigarettes" on the black-market), untaxed..and then the government will just redefine "sin", and come after someone else's sin:)

[Codeine]

63. Almost nobody will quit. nt

[JaredM]

85. "many people will just say no..and will quit.."

I couldn't agree more.

I would also like to add that there is a big difference between a tax to pay for a negative externality (e.g. smokers getting sick & needing more healthcare, people allegedly ill from second-hand smoke), and a tax which is merely punitive, as I think this is.

I also agree with the poster who said that marijuana should be legalized & taxed. But again, the tax should not be high enough to cannibalize the market, which is what is going to happen with cigarette tax revenues.

[sandnsea]

22. If they gave health care to everybody

and paid for it with taxes on everything from cigarettes to booze to pot to burgers to hookers - nobody would mine paying the tax.

[Wiley50]

24. I roll my own and they've hit us harder than ready rollers

I was buying a 6 oz can of Bali shag or Drum for $10.00

A carton of paper tubes for $2.00

A can made about 1 1/2 cartons of smokes

Now that same can costs $25.00

Cheapest ready rolls are Bronco (Colombian Marlboro knock off) $35.00

It's still cheaper, but not much anymore

[Initech]

25. What's a cartoon of Marlboros?

Is that like the cigarettes they smoked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (sorry - couldn't resist):evilgrin:

[Nickster]

26. I'm on day twelve of the nicotine patch. This is my second attempt in a year to quit. The tax hike

was just another motivation to get back on the wagon. After the week I've had,and I've managed to not run for smokes, I'm pretty sure it'll work out this time.

[Sal Minella]

39. The patch worked for me. Nothing else worked.

Kept a couple patches in case I ever got a craving, but that hasn't happened yet (17 years and counting).

Was a 3-pack-a-day smoker for decades but simply cannot stand the stink of it now -- certainly never thought that day would come. Cigs were 20 cents a pack when I started smoking (waiting tables paid 65 cents an hour then).

[Suich]

89. I haven't tried the patch yet....

does it just take away the craving? What happens if you do have a cigarette?

I managed to quit with Welbutrin (sp?) a while back but I couldn't deal with the side effects.

Good work making it to day 12!!!

:)

[Nickster]

97. Yeah, it takes away the cravings....mostly. If you smoke while using the patch, you'll overdose on

nicotine, so probably racing heart, nausea. I'm not going to find out first hand, so I can just tell you what the box says!

[gizmo1979]

27. I have COPD

So I paid way more than that a decade ago.I'm still paying it's miserable.If you smoke quit,if you're thinking of starting don't.I'm a walking anti smoking campaign.

[Speck Tater]

32. I hear you. I'm watching my ex-wife deal with lung cancer right now.

She has very little chance of survival. It's grim watching that happen to someone. It's grimmer still having it happen to you.

It took me 47 years of smoking to finally quit, but you'll never catch me with a cigarette in my hand again.

[gizmo1979]

52. You have my sympathy.

Lung cancer is a horrible thing.

[Sal Minella]

42. I watch my beloved neighbor guy struggle for breath. (COPD)

I used to see him sneak out behind the garage for a cigarette, where his wife couldn't see him, after he "quit."

Many years have passed since the last time I saw him sneak a cigarette, but he also is paying a dear price now.

[gizmo1979]

54. The only ones we

ever fooled was ourselves.I Did the same thing before I quit many times.

[Speck Tater]

29. 48 days smoke free. I feel SO DAMN VIRTUOUS! (hehe) nt

[walkaway]

35. I'm six yrs and one month. Hang in there you are almost past the hard part

All you have to do is never believe you can ever smoke again. Not even one puff. Then you are done for good and must go on a diet!

[roody]

92. Virtue is your middle name. Congratulations!

[Coffee and Cake]

30. Nothing like a good ol' sin tax to legislate morality.

[beyurslf]

31. Some vices just cost more...

[Sal Minella]

51. Used to be, decades ago, there was a "luxury tax" on things like yachts and mink coats --

this wasn't an effort to discourage people from buying yachts and mink coats, but a means of raising revenue from discretionary spending.

[onehandle]

33. OH NOES!

:nopity:

[TheCowsCameHome]

34. I'd quit at half that price.

Screw paying to kill yourself.............

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. That's a fuckin' bargain

$8.75 a pack in Chicago.

:-)

[bleedinglib]

38. SMOKING +++++ or - - - - -

When I was in the union i was a trustee overseeing benefit payments
and I can tell you it was smoking and related complications that forced us to cut benefits on our retired members? 2nd was motorcycle accidents.
I had two brother members that I worked with for years who were heavy smokers and they died from lung cancer and emphysema, while having to live on oxygen and pain medication. Not a pretty site. They were both in their 50's I remember them always joking, well, I'll have another coffin nail? I don't think they use nails anymore?
Of course we've all heard these stories for years and it's not going to happen to us?? is it??
This will piss off a lot of people, but the states that are raising taxes on smokes, are doing it to recoup lost revenues from smoking related illness and insurance cost.
It's not to punish anyone, it's to do them a favor!
When I started smoking in 1950 marvels were 10 cents a pack and it took me 30 years to quit, but quit I did and I hope yu'al do the same?:smoke:

[Mojorabbit]

72. There was a study posted here recently

that refutes your argument. Smokers don't live as long and so don't cost as much in the long run as a nonsmoker who lives longer so ends up costing more in medical care in their end years.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

40. $10/pack in NYC.

[Cetacea]

41. Ntional Hall Monitors. Now if only we could get rid of cars...

Then (maybe)lung cancer will go decrease...

[LanternWaste]

43. I felt the tax hike and decided...

I felt the tax hike and decided that food, rent and utilities were a wee bit more important than my addiction. So I quit-- smoke free for over two weeks :)

I crunched a few numbers and realized that my pack a day habit since 1984 has cost me more than $20,000-- or sixty years wages for the average Chinese factory floor worker. Made me feel like quite the schmuck. :blush:

[RebelOne]

44. That's awful. And I thought the $38 I paid for a carton

of Marlboros here in Georgia was too much.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

45. The biggest addict to nicotine products are all levels of governmemt

The diversion of tobacco based taxes to non-tobacco use means that when the sin taxes and propaganda start to work and the amount of consumption drops, there is a revenue scramble to fund those "worthy and necessary" programs the smoking taxes were funding.

More than a little stupid, but there we all are

[nonconformist]

47. It's ridiculous.

I think they should add a $20 tax on each case of beer. After all, it would discourage teenage drinking and alcoholics.

[Joe the Liberal]

48. I'm glad I don't smoke then...........

My dad smokes and I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke, through him smoking I have learned to never touch cigarettes. It's a huge waste of money, nevertheless those prices are crazy. :wow:

[msongs]

49. LUNG CANCER surgery $500,000 out of somebody else's pocket

even if YOU have health insurance that's more than you ever paid in so the balance is coming out somebody else's paycheck.

Msongs

[nonconformist]

66. That's about what a liver transplant costs, too.

Not to mention physical and property damages sustained in alcohol-related auto accidents, the myriad of health problems associated with drinking (including cancer), other injuries and accidents, etc.

Would you support a $20 tax on each case of beer?

What about the health issues related to obesity... a very long list there.

Would you support a $10 tax on fast food? How about soda taxes? Junk food in general?

[Updike]

57. I just ordered an "E-Cig" from China for my nicotine fixes but it has been held up in customs

for the entire week.

Pisses me off because I just got an offer from Costco to buy them locally. I don't know if I'll ever get my Chinese product as it looks like it might be a good avenue for my quitting.

[ShareTheWoods]

58. Yet booze, the bigger killer sneaks by without a tax hike

Why is that??? Oh, that's right, too many people would complain.

Goddamn two faced jackals and their politically correct tax increases.

Fucking pathetic.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

64. Imagine .............

Marijuana is both decriminalized and then legalized.

It becomes a marketable commodity, and packs of well-rolled joints are sold for, let's say, three bucks a pack.

Taxes, of course, add to the cost.

Can you IMAGINE how fast the national debt would be erased?

Do you know how much more mellow people would be? Violent crimes would be on the downswing.

Prisons would empty, revenues would go up, people would be in better moods.

God forbid anything that sensible or worthwhile ever takes place in our United States of America ....................

[sarcasmo]

74. The Prison Industrial Complex won't allow taxed and legalized Marijuana.

I would bet the figure of prison inmates to be at least forty percent Marijuana related crimes. How much do prisons get per prisoner?
On a side note. My wife will be getting her Michigan Marijuana card soon, :).

[Tangerine LaBamba]

77. You got that right -

What's a Michigan Marijuana Card? Is it what I think it is?

[sarcasmo]

99. Yep, we passed the law where you can use it for health reasons.

[Bozita]

79. $31,325 per prisoner per year in Michigan

In a two-day special series last April, The Detroit News reported:

• The prison population has grown four-fold in the last quarter-century and now numbers nearly 50,000.

• The $31,325 it costs to house a Michigan inmate for a year could pay three years worth of tuition for a student at a state university.

• Michigan incarcerates inmates at a higher rate than any other Midwest state and estimates are that the state could save $500 million annually if it locked-up criminals at a rate more like its neighboring states.

• Mushrooming prison spending has not stopped the state from ranking 10th among the states in the rate of violent crimes -- the only Midwestern state in the top 10.

• Today's prison population equals the combined populations of Ferndale, Mount Clemens and Harper Woods.

• Because of Michigan's stringent parole practices, about 12,000 inmates who've served their minimum sentences remain locked up.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090122/METRO/901220434/1409/METRO

Google:

Too Many Prisoners in State Prisons?
Here's how the Michigan prison population has grown since 1960. Today, inmates cost the state about $31325 each per year. 1960 -- 9622. 1970 -- 9079 ...
blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php/2008/06/17/too-many-prisoners-in-state- prisons?blog=5 - 38k - Cached - Similar pages

Citizens Alliance on Prisons
It costs an average of $200 a year for each Michigan resident to support the prisons. • The cost to house each inmate drains $31325 annually from the state ... While prison costs soar, revenue sharing to local units of government has ...
www.capps-mi.org/prison%20costs%20on%20agenda.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Sentencing Law and Policy: Examining prison costs in Michigan
It costs an average of $200 a year for each Michigan resident to support the prisons. The cost to house each inmate drains $31325 annually from the state ...
sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2008/05/examining- priso.html - 45k - Cached - Similar pages
The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog: Michigan can save millions on ...

LANSING --Michigan can save $262 million in five years on prison spending with ... The $31325 it costs to house a Michigan inmate for a year could pay three ...
realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2009/01/michigan_can_sa.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages
Vocational & Entrepreneurial Skills that Empower Communities

Michigan has experienced a 519-percent growth in its state prison population ... It costs the State of Michigan approximately $31325 per year to house, ...
freedesireinc.com/crime-stats-rationale.php - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
Bulging prisons drain Michigan's budget
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML

A number of developments in the 1990s added fuel to Michigan's prison ... about $2000 a year per inmate, compared with nearly $16000 in a jail or $31325 in ...
www.mitaxtruth.com/attachments/ DetNews041408BulgingPrisonsDrainMichigansBudget.pdf - Similar pages

[Bozita]

81. ... and $22,040 for a year at UMich in Ann Arbor - tuition, room, board, books

https://plan.salliemae.com/?dtd_cell=SEEIGP_08

Estimated cost for first year
First year begins with the start date you identified on the prior page; depending on how you answered that question, it may or may not be the student’s actual first year of school.
attendance at University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor.
We've pre-filled estimated costs for first-year attendance based on your choice of school.*
You can change any amount below to match your personal details.

Tuition & fees: $*
Average annual room & board:

$*
Additional annual fees for
full time students: $*
Average annual cost of
books & supplies: $*
Total first-year tuition costs: $11,765
Total first-year non-tuition costs: $10,274
Total combined first-year costs: $22,040

*Data used herein is copyrighted material under license to Wintergreen Orchard House, a division of Alloy Education. Reproduced herein by permission of Wintergreen Orchard House. Copyright 2008 by Wintergreen Orchard House. All rights reserved.
*The costs and other data shown herein represent estimates only. No representation or warranty as to accuracy is being made.

[sarcasmo]

98. The real reason they fight legalized Marijuana. 31,325 WOW!

[bicentennial_baby]

82. I'm fine with decriminalization

I don't want them mucking my weed up with more chemicals than are already in there. And, I pay enough as it is. Here in MA, up to 1 oz, it's a $100 fine, if you're over 18. I can live with that. :D

[Lorax]

93. I have been saying this for years.

Legalize it, regulate it, and tax it (appropriately). Use part of the money for drug education and addiction rehab. I prefer a good bourbon any day, but I don't really see the difference between MJ and alcohol.

[Captain Hilts]

73. Demand for cigarettes is VERY price elastic for younger smokers. nt

[deaniac21]

75. Sin taxes make me hot.

[excess_3]

83. how much do wholesale cigs cost?

since a pack cigs cost 25c to make, I would guess that
untaxed wholesale cigs would cost 50c a pack,
25c for retail markup,
and the rest being...

tax, tax , tax, tax on the tax
plus tax.

[seabeyond]

84. 7.03 in amarillo texas. n/t

[Lucian]

91. Smokers should quit smoking if they don't want to pay the high prices.

Simple as that.

If they don't want to quit smoking, then they shouldn't bitch about the cost of cigarettes.

[REP]

95. I smoke for the children. Don't you care about children?

If it weren't for smokers, who would pay for First5 and SCHIP?

You?

[Tx4obama]

94. Houston, Texas

A carton of Marlboros cost me $54 (which $24.20 is tax)

Federal tax plus Texas tax = $2.42 per pack

[Frau Schmidt]

96. it's killing people, the higher the price the better

[Dorian Gray]

100. That's cheap

In NYC, it's way more than that.

[greguganus]

101. Pick up butts on the street to smoke. You will also be helping the environment. n/t

[ejpoeta]

102. i don't smoke either, but I resent this bullcrap. but smokers are an easy target.

i always said once they got away with this stuff with smokers we better look out. they seem to be working on 'fat' folks now. patterson wanted to tax pop (except diet). boy was there a firestorm over that. i wonder how many of the folks bitching about taxing pop were glad for the tax on cigarettes. it's only a matter of time.... anything can be bad for you. so the possibilities are endless. and in NY they always seem to be looking for another way to get tax revenue. Should we put a punitive tax on fast food, too? how about all foods deemed bad for you. they could tax everything beyond fruits and vegetables. you want to talk about a slippery slope.... there's your slippery slope.

[Paladin]

104. Glad To Hear It. The Higher The Price, The Better..... (n/t)