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Politics : IMPEACH GRAY DAVIS! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sarkie who wrote (185)	1/12/2003 3:54:45 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1641

re: cigarette tax I think there was some study done that showed that smokers cost california much more than taxes ever bring in, because the % of smokers from low income backgrounds is higher and they tend to wind up on state funded medical programs when they eventually get sick. At least thats what the last anti-smoking initiative claimed, and I have to admit it sounds right given the cost of medical care at this point, even if you include the medicare cuts. So the legislature sees it as a win-win to hike cigarette taxes, short term cash and long term less payouts. Lizzie

To: Sarkie who wrote (185)	1/12/2003 4:47:17 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1641

Smoking drops as price increases. That is a public health benefit. (Of course, cigarette smuggling increases as price increases.) Smoking causes many diseases, not just lung cancer. Lung cancer is not even the highest risk disease linked to smoking; heart attack is #1. More than a hundred diseases have been statistically linked to smoking. And, more significantly, some have been linked through causal mechanisms (meaning the mechanism by which smoking causes the disease is known). Smokers need more health care. Part of that health care comes at public expense. So tax 'em to pay for their own health care. Except, of course, cigarette taxes do not end up in a trust fund dedicated to treating diseases caused by smoking; they end up in the general fund and are used for whatever politicians need or need to get re-elected. The cigarette tax impresses me largely as "They're an unpopular group. We can get away with taxing the bejeesus out of them. Let's do it."