7,500 cigarettes, three weeks of your life and just under two thousand dollars: That’s what a person who smokes one pack a day could save themselves by quitting for only one year, and let’s face it, most people don’t smoke just one pack a day.
Some months ago Washington enacted the most restrictive ban in United States history, making it a punishable offense to smoke within twenty feet of a public building. This therefore, also put bar and tavern owners at risk of being fined for allowing people to smoke near their establishments.
The trend seems to be catching on too. Across the country, states like California and Minnesota are working to enact similar policies. Anything from not allowing smoking in bars, to enacting huge tobacco taxes to deter smokers, the country is really out to stop this problem.
There is one setback that it seems no one really anticipated. A few years ago, one in five adults smoked, according to an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Now, with the pushing through of all these new regulations, that number is down, and as a result so is the money in the treasury. In Minnesota, where the article was published, tobacco tax collections have fallen about 1% a year consistently, or about 4-5 million dollars annually.
State budgeters attribute this to the raise in taxes, calling it a sin tax, and the most justifiable one that you can raise. Tobacco taxes amounted to 13 billion dollars nationally last year.. It seems that the taxes have reached their peak, finally becoming so high that it has forced many consumers to lay down there cancer sticks.
While many state penny pinchers may see this as an unanticipated setback, I view it as a huge blessing. We’ve finally reached the point where cigarettes are deterring people by themselves; we don’t even need to produce negative advertising. If these prices and regulations continue to increase, we could be on our way to a healthier, smoke free nation, and everyone has to be happy about that especially the smokers who stand to save thousands.
Some months ago Washington enacted the most restrictive ban in United States history, making it a punishable offense to smoke within twenty feet of a public building. This therefore, also put bar and tavern owners at risk of being fined for allowing people to smoke near their establishments.
The trend seems to be catching on too. Across the country, states like California and Minnesota are working to enact similar policies. Anything from not allowing smoking in bars, to enacting huge tobacco taxes to deter smokers, the country is really out to stop this problem.
There is one setback that it seems no one really anticipated. A few years ago, one in five adults smoked, according to an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Now, with the pushing through of all these new regulations, that number is down, and as a result so is the money in the treasury. In Minnesota, where the article was published, tobacco tax collections have fallen about 1% a year consistently, or about 4-5 million dollars annually.
State budgeters attribute this to the raise in taxes, calling it a sin tax, and the most justifiable one that you can raise. Tobacco taxes amounted to 13 billion dollars nationally last year.. It seems that the taxes have reached their peak, finally becoming so high that it has forced many consumers to lay down there cancer sticks.
While many state penny pinchers may see this as an unanticipated setback, I view it as a huge blessing. We’ve finally reached the point where cigarettes are deterring people by themselves; we don’t even need to produce negative advertising. If these prices and regulations continue to increase, we could be on our way to a healthier, smoke free nation, and everyone has to be happy about that especially the smokers who stand to save thousands.
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