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Proposed Tax Hike to Include All Tobacco Products

Rich Jones, News Director

@ March 31, 2009 6:04 AM Permalink | Comments (2)

A proposed tax hike for cigarettes could also include all tobacco products.

A couple of state senators say they want to add a dollar to the cost of a pack of smokes, and cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff.

The Senate Finance and Tax Committee is set to give the bill its first hearing today.

Supporters of the tax hike say the money will help pay for the Medicaid program that covers the treatment of many people who become ill from smoking and other tobacco use.

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What others are saying

Vote for a tax
Hey politician, vote for a tax increase and I will vote against you. If you want my vote, stop spending money on unconstitutional junk, like health care. Our state constitution contains authority to tax for very specific items, NOT including all the trash you have added to it, and any confiscation of OUR money, earned by US that is not specifically allowed in that document should never even be considered. We here in the great state of Florida enjoy strong Republican majorities in our government. Let's get busy acting like the conservatives we claim to be. Cut spending to the bare minimum.
By Jeffersonite @ 03/31/09 10:46:11 PMreport abuse
I am a citizen of the State of Florida and any time you propose a Florida State Tax, such as your recent proposal for an $1.00 per pack cigarette tax to off-set budget woes it has an impact on many Florida citizens to include those out of you district. I pose this question to you. Why is it every time someone in the legislative body wants to impose a new tax, they seem to look to the cigarette smoke/ tobacco consumer? Where are you going to go when cigarette/tobacco use decreases. Justification seems to be posing a tobacco tax will help off-set the cost of heath care. Whose heath care??. I have medial insurance which I pay for and I'm sure there is an increase cost due to chronic cigarette smoking however, why is it the tobacco who should carry the burden of the cost of increases in heath care cost for many reasons, not just tobacco use. How about the uninsured, the illegal alien (or as the left likes to put it, the undocumented worker), the unemployed (many by choice), the drug user and the chronic consumer of alcohol, all who access our heath care system. If due to that.

I am tired of so called sin taxes being suggested or imposed on a few and then using heath care cost as the excuse. Would you break out all collected tobacco tax revenues from all tax revenues and be sure it was applied to the heath care associated with cigarette use or would all the above benefit from this tax. How are you proposing this will be done.

If you want to impose a tax that will have more financial gain (tax revenues) and penalize the user, try an alcohol consumption tax at $1.00 per can of beer or $1.00 per every 2 ounces of hard distilled spirits. The chronic use and/or over consumption of alcohol has much more of an impact on society, i.e., heath related illness/disease, innocent human suffering, death and maiming from alcohol related motor vehicle accidents, divorce, (public assistance), domestic abuse, etc., just to name a few.

Or is it because most of our holier-than-thou, alcohol consuming legislators do not want an additional tax burden placed on their chosen vices?? Hmmmmm
By Jim Harris, Hilliard, FL @ 03/31/09 09:21:57 AMreport abuse