IL Smoking Ban, WI $1 Cigarette Tax Will Benefit Each Other
01.02.08 (1:51 am) posted by Genia
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A post on The Political Environment
about the new smoking ban in IL
reminded me of Wisconsin's newest cigarette tax. Beginning January 1, 2008, every pack of cigarettes purchashed in Wisconsin will incur a
$1 excise tax.
Personally, I would prefer an across-the-board
smoking ban like the one started in IL. For now, I can keep dreaming.
While standing in the checkout lane at a local convenient store last week, I saw a sign that said, "Stock up now. Beginning January 1, 2008, cigarettes will incur a $1 excise tax per pack."
I laughed out loud -- literally -- thinking, that's like charging a crack addict a dollar more for his fix. Does anyone really expect people to quit smoking just
because the price has gone up? I remember when my mother and grandmother would send us kids to the store to buy cigarettes for them.
This was back when there was no age restriction
for purchasing cigarettes. If I remember correctly, cigarettes were less than a dollar a pack (and gasoline was 89 cents per gallon!).
On December 31, 2007, cigarettes were $3.50 a pack.
My mother still smokes. I doubt she will quit, even if Georgia increased the price of each pack by a full dollar.
She hasn't quit yet and they've already gone up well over $2.50 more than they were when I was growing up.
The good thing about the excise tax is that cigarette smokers are now paying more towards cleaning up their own fuckin' mess along the highway. At least I
certainly hope that's what the money will be used for. It's so rude when a smoker rolls down his window and tosses his cigarette butt out the window. That leaves
non-smoking taxpayers to flip the bill for highway cleanup. Another thing that bothers me is when you're standing next to a cigarette trash bin and you notice cigarette butts all over the ground right next to the trash can. Lazy bastards! If smokers insist on littering highways and public streets with their garbage,
I say they should be subjected to a new excise tax every year.
Smokers here in Beloit, WI will simply cross the border into IL and buy cigarettes, while IL smokers on the WI/IL stateline will cross the border
and hit a bar in Beloit so they can smoke freely without incurring a fine. Gas stations and cigarette depots in IL will benefit from WI's excise tax; and
Wisconsin bars (all except Madison, WI bars) will benefit from IL's new smoking ban. It looks like a match made in smokin' heaven.
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