Cigarette Tax

[Deleted User]easylike (deleted user)
in General

In the Cleveland Ohio area, the local government puts levies on the ballots in hopes of passing to raise taxes on cigarettes supporting Sports, Arts & Entertainment venues, advertising etc. They usually pass do to the fact that the majority of people no longer smoke. Is this fair?

Please let us all know if cigarettes are taxed in your nearest major city

  1. Smoker38 votes
    1. Ex-Smoker
      10.53%
    2. Never Smoker
      89.47%
«1

Comments

  • SoosonSooson

    When C(r)ook County, IL. which is where Chicago is located, first initiated the Cigarette Tax people were driving down to Indiana to buy them. Not sure if nowdays a trip to Indiana or a little bit up north to stock up is still worth it since I never smoked and never will. Crook County taxes were one of the highest in the nation already by that time.
    In general, it's easier to tax products that people must purchase and cannot avoid. So addictions are the next easiest target after gas.

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)
    edited April 2025

    "Sin taxes" have their proponents and detractors. But they date back to 1791 in the US, so I doubt they are going anywhere.

  • Mr_Cuddle_BearMr_Cuddle_Bear

    As an ex smoker, I hope they tax cigarettes and all tobacco products into extinction.

  • KatotaKatota

    I hope they tax cigarettes and all tobacco products into extinction.

    😁
    @Mr_Cuddle_Bear

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan Mod

    In the UK a packet of 20 cigarettes costs about £15. Value Added Tax (VAT, the national sales tax) is 16.5% so £2.48. There is also duty of £6.69 for a total tax of £9.17 or about 61%.

    The mathematically minded will note that such a system means you are basically paying tax on a tax.

    Nobody likes paying tax but this one is not controversial. The revenue is not hypothecated but is considered general taxation, and so some of it ends up paying for the treatment of people who got cancer from smoking.

    Governments are entitled to tax however they want. All taxes are unfair to somebody.

  • cuds23cuds23

    Vice taxes are ineffective at curbing the vice. This road leads to a 5 dollar coke

  • pmvinespmvines

    I quit smoking 30 yrs ago back when you could get a carton for less than 20 dollars. It's a horrible habit and I don't think that vaping is any better. However taxing the crap out of it as well as other things that are considered unhealthy is asinine.

  • [Deleted User]easylike (deleted user)

    @pmvines: I'm with you. Me being an ex-smoker, some of us remember the days where you could smoke anywhere and damn near everywhere, all public buildings, all medical facilities etc etc and hell even most High Schools had smoking lounges for 18-year-olds, I know mine did. As addicting and as bad as they are, with all the restrictions society has put upon them I don't think they'll do nearly as much harm to the average smoker just by volume alone.

    I say raise the tax on the people who use any of the above mentioned venues

  • TxTomTxTom

    Change hearts and minds. But singling out a product or service for a punitive "sin" tax is wrong, and hypocritical. It's punishing something while giving tacit approval of it.

    Then the bureaucracy gets addicted to the extra revenue, and whatever do gooder purposes they use it for becomes dependant on it.

  • [Deleted User]easylike (deleted user)

    @TxTom: It just so happens the county that Cleveland Ohio sits in passed those sin taxes almost 30 years ago to build brand new stadiums and when it ran its course, voila! it ends up back on the ballot and passes again and then kind of gets lost in the shuffle until next time.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    There are extra taxes on alcohol, weed and gambling in various states. There are also higher premiums on insurance—whether it’s health or life insurance.

    Sin taxes have always been around. If they are going to tax these products, the proceeds should go to prevention or the extra health care costs these behaviors produce which causes increased costs for everyone. But it never does.

  • JohnR1972JohnR1972

    @easylike - Congratulations! You may have just found one of the few topics a lot of us who frequently disagree with each other all agree on 👍

  • [Deleted User]easylike (deleted user)

    @JohnR1972 and nobody's mad at me ither lol

  • jmdankjmdank

    I'm so glad I no longer smoke, I quit when they went up to $3.50 a pack, when I first started smoking at 15 they were $2 a pack lolol

  • SoosonSooson
    edited April 2025

    The powers that be do not give a shit about your health. They could care less if you dropped dead tomorrow morning.
    cigarettes and Tobacco tax has nothing to do with caring for people's health otherwise they would also be taxing pizza, cheeseburgers, soda and candy the same way.
    It is also not a Sin Tax because otherwise they would be taxing [skipping examples 😂🤣🤣] the same way.
    It is just a convenient target due to people's addiction and does not result in any political price to pay.

    Sin taxes have always been around. If they are going to tax these products, the proceeds should go to prevention or the extra health care costs these behaviors produce which causes increased costs for everyone. But it never does.

    Because if it ceased to exist, they won't be able to tax it anymore 🤣🤣🤣

  • [Deleted User]easylike (deleted user)

    @Sooson: Thank you! I've been preaching that shit for years

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    @Mr_Cuddle_Bear why do you feel that way? They are not forcing you to smoke. Let people enjoy what they enjoy.

    When I was younger I'd have a cig once in a blue moon, usually when I drank. Had a period of time where i would smoke bidis as well lol. Currently just have a cigar like once every few months or so, if that. Usually when drinking.

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden

    I personally like being able to go outside and even into restaurants and stores without choking on the nauseating smell of cigarette smoke (I'm allergic). They haven't invented smoke that respects personal boundaries or can stay behind invisible lines. Or that doesn't stick to people's clothes and hair.

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    I think there was a more "live and let live" attitude toward smoking before the dangers of secondhand smoke were understood. Anyway, as the OP points out, smokers are in the minority (and the tobacco lobby is a shadow of what it once was), which translates into little to no power to fight taxes like this.

  • KatotaKatota

    I personally like being able to go outside and even into restaurants and stores without choking on the nauseating smell of cigarette smoke (I'm allergic). They haven't invented smoke that respects personal boundaries or can stay behind invisible lines. Or that doesn't stick to people's clothes and hair.

    @IronLemon

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    Right, and you have the ability to do that now without the need to get rid of tobacco products entirely.

  • great_pillow08great_pillow08

    BAN IT!!! It's on my profile and has been since DAY O-N-E!! My lungs close up and I start gasping for air and it's HORRIBLE!! 100 feet from the entrance or out in the parking lot next to your car makes NO difference- I CAN NOT breathe that smoke!!! 🤮🤬

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    @great_pillow08 I don't think anybody is advocating for smoking in public, anywhere. What issue do you have with someone using tobacco in their own. People have all sorts of allergies, can't ban everything people are allergic to.

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden

    I've seen plenty of smokers who object strongly if you try to infringe on their god-given right to pollute anyone's air. People who will smoke "outside" by standing in an open doorway. People who will take a final drag, go inside, and exhale. And even if they're the respectful type, they still stink like smoke all day. I can smell a smoker from across the room just from the smoke that stuck to them.

    All this is, of course, off the topic of cigarette taxes.

  • wilderdudewilderdude
    edited April 2025

    Standard asshole behavior is what you are describing. Topic is taxation of tobacco to the point of making it unaffordable. Effectively a ban without an outright ban. Nice anecdotal example, which means nothing and sounds made up.

    It's a standard vice.

    Comment edited due to content [netrunner]

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden

    and sounds made up

    eyeroll Ok, bye. Stopped reading there.

  • EthanNeedsHeldEthanNeedsHeld
    edited April 2025

    Talk about “sounds made up” lol
    @wilderdude my dude, you’re making all sorts of things up in your diatribe. Including, but certainly not limited to, suggesting that IronLemon’s comments are made up. Doesn’t sound made up to me 🤷🏻
    (I say this all with peace and in the interest of self-reflection - no interest in stirring the shit)

    It’s interesting all the feelings getting stirred up about such a fringe topic as cigarette taxes. I wonder what’s beneath the surface…

    But to the original topic, bring on the cig taxes. Maybe stop once they’re $1/cig. And out of curiosity I had to check my old home, Australia - $50/pack! Could be worse, kids!

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    @EthanNeedsHeld sounds made up is what i say when someone talks about an experience that is so extreme.... that it sounds made up. People generally don't act that way lol.

    Original topic was taxes yes, but you can see the progression of this thread, the sentiment is tax it to death.

    Bring on the cig taxes? They are taxed higher than anything as it is. If public health is the issue, soda, donuts, candy bars need these kinds of taxes.

    Heart disease is the #1 killer in the west.

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    As a side, that level of excess tax does nothing more than open up a black market. 50 a pack in australia but I'm sure there's an underground criminal element that is thriving as a result of that.

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    Speculation on my part... googled it and:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/19/australia-tobacco-tax-black-market

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