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Tobacco Taxes and Tobacco Settlements
Cigarette taxes and smoking laws… another assault on human rights and
property rights
(4th edition - May 2008) by A.O. Kime
 for information on
'renting' this article, see Rent-a-Article
Tobacco and the failed states (part II)
There is always more than one way to express one’s disgust over a contemptuous
issue… and the excessive taxes levied on cigarettes offers a wealth of ways. The
matter reeks of wrongdoing; it is entirely discriminatory and the justification
for it is not only veiled but clearly insane. It is insane, after all, to let
political correctness ride herd over inalienable
rights. It is a road to oblivion for the democratic state.
The exorbitant tax rate which the states have levied on cigarettes is shameful,
despicable, cruel and unjust. It is the worst case of government trampling on
the rights of citizens in the last 40 years. However, if to exclude racial
discrimination, then it is the worst case since the ban on alcohol came into
force in 1920 (‘prohibition’ lasted until 1933).
The tobacco affair is the brainchild of oblique omnipotence.
The tobacco affair is madness of historic proportions.
In addition, the conduct of most state governments concerning the disposition of
both their windfall from the tobacco settlements, plus the additional revenue
raised from subsequent taxes, continually piled atop one another, is steeped in
unbridled deceitfulness… being not a case about health as they claim, but instead
being a case of states balancing their budgets on the backs of smokers. By any
measure… this is incredibly unfair.
It is unbridled deceitfulness because it is unchecked deceitfulness. America’s
prosecutorial presence for oversight has been nonexistent. By any standard of
justice, it reflects a failed state… and the failed states within America are
now in the majority.
It is a crystal clear fact... tobacco taxes have nothing to do with getting
people to stop smoking.
It began with deceitfulness.
It will end in despotism.
Within most states, only a small fraction of the tobacco tax revenue goes
towards smoking prevention programs and virtually nothing to help smokers
directly with smoking related illnesses…
see tobaccofreekids.org
While it doesn’t equal the Tuskegee syphilis study, a dreadful medical
experiment preformed by the Public Health Service on 400 poor black men
in and around Tuskegee, Alabama from 1932-1972, it’s of the same callousness.
The callousness which exists today may not be as openly wicked but
state-sponsored callousness is an ominous signpost which points to Rome.
Human rights
These tobacco taxes are even more unjust than the taxes imposed by King
George III on the American colonies which prompted the revolution. A taxman
reaching across the Pacific is not nearly as bad as one singling out a
minority for punishment. Due to this unjust act of singling out a group to
pay a disproportion share of taxes... we’re talking about human rights.
In a very real sense, any tax rate greater than the standard tax rate equates
to tribute.
So too, it is as cruel as the benefits denied World War I veterans.
So too, it is as shameful as Teapot Dome and Watergate.
It is a despicable act.
Taking advantage of a person’s addiction is despicable... so too, placing an
additional burden on retirees living on social security. Most older folks
can't break their 40 or 50 year-old habit. Diverting the proceeds away from
the suffering (as the awards were originally intended) is likewise despicable.
As for any non-smoker who might be unsympathetic to this, they should realize
where this will lead. It will ultimately affect all Americans… it’s the tip of
the iceberg in a tyrannical sea.
Imagine soon ten bucks for a can of beer and $200 for a bottle of vodka. It
will happen. Like smokers, alcoholics will soon provide the states with
millions more addicted, thus captive taxpayers. It would be another revenue
bonanza for the states… now addicted themselves to this proposition.
Yes, the states finally discovered their magic formula… tax the hell out of
anything addictive. This will assuredly be followed by increased taxes on
medications (more captives) and someday taxes for the air you breathe. Oxygen,
after all, is addictive. Sex is addictive and for some… chocolate.
Who’s to blame? It isn't the state apparatus itself per se, it must follow the
law, but laws created by self-serving legislators who go along to get along, or
who sold out… the former describes a disgusting weakness in character, the
latter being 'despicability' itself. In this case, it was the insurance companies
they prostituted themselves for… the scourge of humanity. The legislative
chambers have become the breeding grounds for despicability and now contain its
purest forms. Traitorous lackeys they are, most all of them.
While children should always be discouraged from smoking… this is the roll of
parents, not the state. As for adults, many, if not most, can’t quit anyway. It
is highly addictive and the state knows this. They lie when they say otherwise…
now financially dependent on smokers not quitting. If the legislators knew
smokers would quit over exorbitant taxes after the first few months, they
wouldn’t have chanced raising them. They want a consistent revenue source.
The rising crime rate over tobacco legislation
Witness also the rising crime rate over cigarettes… more robberies, more
muggings, and increasingly worldwide… deaths. The states have merely created
another environment in which violence can flourish… perpetually. As was the
case during Prohibition and within America's current imbecilic drug war, we
can now add innocent bystanders to the list of alcoholics, drug addicts and
smokers who die prematurely. Except… gambling with death wasn’t quite the
lifestyle these innocent bystanders had in mind.
Daily, from all around the world the reports of violence over tobacco come in…
except, that is, from Mexico, Central and South America. South America is the
only continent not caught up in this global madness. Why? It is a case of
cultural differences (Spanishness). In this case, the commitment of the
Spanish-speaking people to such personal liberties. Americans go play there
for that very reason… to experience their more numerous and more liberal
freedoms.
Simply put, the frenzied madness over tobacco isn’t entirely universal. While
a few Asia-Pacific countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) have adopted
this anti-smoking craziness, along with a couple half-hearted Asian and African
countries, this historic odyssey of a dysfunctional nature is occurring mainly
within western societies. Except, the dysfunctional people fanning these flames
shouldn’t be called Australians, Englishmen or Americans… they are, in effect,
Inquisitionists. Inquisitionists are the type of people which comprised both the
Spanish Inquisition and the mobs during the Salem witch hunts. Amongst themselves,
they make illogical thought fashionable.
The Spanish-speaking people, on the other hand, apparently recall the horrors
of the Spanish Inquisition and are determined not to repeat it. Whether it is
church dogma or anti-smoking dogma, it’s all about the majority telling a
minority what they must do. Except... majority rule
seldom reflects justice (in reference to successful anti-tobacco voter
initiatives).
Meanwhile, governments are taking advantage of this insanity and profiting.
While serving the interests of these Inquisitionists, the justification for the
state's attack on tobacco isn’t for the same reason. The states are motivated
by money, not health concerns. With America having cleared the way, it’s now
open season on the tobacco companies. It’s also about extorting an industry
with deep pockets which is at odds with political correctness.
It is equally bereft of reason to tell substance abusers they aren’t permitted
to gamble with their own life when it is perfectly legal for them to starve or
freeze to death. Often the states will even standby and watch. One can even
commit suicide without fear of prosecution.
The war on tobacco is craziness of epic and historic proportions.
In the end, it is the substance abuser who voluntarily takes the associated
risks, gambles with their life expectancy… not so the innocents. The innocents,
therefore, assuredly working hard towards a full and rewarding life, pay the
dearest price. Their deaths are ultimately the fault of the legislators… it
would be poetic justice if these traitorous lackeys were the bystanders instead.
On the other hand, it would be a slightly different matter if the states were
spending 100% of their tobacco tax proceeds on educational campaigns about the
dangers of smoking, and truly assisted those suffering from smoking related
illnesses. They might then claim nobleness… but that isn’t the case. Not even
close. The Texas House of Representatives was at odds with its Senate recently
because it earmarked 5% of the tobacco money for tobacco prevention programs.
The House didn’t want any going towards these programs… zero, nada, zilch.
See Star-Telegram
The futility in counseling smokers
Some states, of course, would point out the fact they now have a host of
counselors to help people stop smoking... except there are so few they couldn’t
host a wedding party. Further, the success rate of counselors is no greater than
that of witch doctors. Counseling, as a profession, is a state-sponsored but
failed profession. Aside from hiring a few of these nonproductive people for
show, the windfall from the tobacco settlements, plus the additional income from
the excessive taxes on cigarettes, is purposed for bloated budgets instead.
Counseling certainly won’t help the dying, and seldom helps those who see an
advanced age as a fate worse than an early death. Many people don’t wish to
become, as they see it, 'old and decrepit'. After all, the quality of life
usually diminishes with age. Education, however, can help young
people make informed decisions. What they do thereafter is their business.
The states must absolutely forget trying to meddle in the personal affairs of
adults… after all, even parents learn you can't dictate to grown children
without alienating them. The states, therefore, are flirting with alienation.
Further, like alcohol and drugs, cigarettes can’t be legislated away. Besides,
death is inevitable for everyone… and the states certainly can’t guarantee a
more pleasant death than dying from lung cancer. Yet, they should... if the
states want to rearrange the causes of death, then a guarantee aught to come
with the territory. Yet, curiously too… the states won’t advertise the fact
you would then die from something else. So, if not from lung cancer, how else
to die? Will the suffering be less?
While the hereditarily-vulnerable people run the greatest risk of getting lung
cancer, even those smokers who aren't so vulnerable largely agree smoking
isn't a good habit for a variety of reasons... mainly because it's unhealthy
and messy. Nonetheless they enjoy smoking. They love the taste and
smell of tobacco. It helps them relax. However, in the end, it doesn't matter
how smoking weighs-in as a habit, whether bad or not-so-bad, the decision to
smoke rightly belongs to the individual... not the state. As for smoking on the
job, that decision rightly belongs to the employer.
While we all know smoking is largely unhealthy, as would be from slugging it out
in a boxing ring, or from working in a Kentucky coal mine or from overeating, it
isn't all bad. There exists a couple of health benefits.
Nicotine and sepsis
Aside from nicotine tempering one's anxiety due to stress, a natural remedy
which eliminates the need to pop a bunch of pills which often cause dangerous
side effects, invariably the case for 'engineered' medicines, it has been
demonstrated that smokers are less likely to develop sepsis which accounts
for 9.3% of the deaths in the U.S. annually. Sepsis is the third leading cause
of death in developed countries and the first cause of death in intensive care
units. In other words, nicotine has been proven beneficial to one’s immune system.
See sciencentral.com
and nature.com
So, in effect, aren't the states telling its citizens “don't gamble with
lung cancer but with sepsis instead”?
While nobody can ‘save’ lives, only try to extend one’s life-expectancy, as a
doctor would, but when the state gets involved in this… it creates a danger to
all liberties. For example, if a long and healthy life for its citizens is
the goal of the states, then wouldn't it be inconsistent to allow skydiving,
a life-threatening sport? What about waterskiing, mountain climbing and other
sports which occasionally produce a death? What about the countless sports
injuries? Consistent with this goal, these sports are in danger of being
outlawed. After all, like the smoker, alcoholic and drug addict, sports
enthusiasts also gamble with death. Meanwhile, joggers take their chances with
getting mugged and a bag of candy could kill the obese. Even a lack of exercise
is hazardous to your health... the Surgeon General issued a warning to that
effect in 1996.
Yet, gambling with death is thrilling for many people, so much so it is
practically a national pastime… evidenced by racecar drivers, daredevils and
stunt pilots. Likewise, smokers gamble… knowing full well the risks. Never was
there a smoker born who never knew the risks. "Live for today", many
think, "for tomorrow may never come".
However, if legislators can emphatically state that sports are not in danger
of being outlawed, then this is further proof smoking laws are not about health.
While a counter argument might be; "the state is attacking smoking because
it is the biggest health risk", the point is... if the state's health
concerns are indeed sincere, then which pastime will be next? If true, then there
MUST be something next. Except it isn't true, it's about money. The anti-smoking
lobby just gave the states a great excuse, albeit the pretext, under which to
exploit an addiction. Either way, whether it's about health or not, it spells big
trouble. All pastimes are either in danger of being banned for health and
safety reasons, or exploited because of their addictive and pleasing nature.
While everyone wants the safest possible car, and while much of the credit can
go to the government for safer cars, which would include credit for the
additional lives saved because of the mandated seatbelts, there must be a limit
placed on this authority. It can’t be carte blanche otherwise all dangerous
sports and activities are in peril. Smoking is just one such activity.
With this agenda, flirting with death will become outlawed.
With this agenda, those with anorexic nervosa will be force-fed.
With this agenda, the obese will be forced to exercise.
Without changes, you can make book on it happening.
Twenty years ago we smokers wouldn’t have believed what we’re seeing today.
Myself, I started smoking in 1954 and don’t want to quit. I like smoking. Since
I rarely drink anymore, normally just an occasional glass of wine, smoking is
now the only ‘vice’ I have. I should be allowed to enjoy it without having to
pay tribute. The state has no right to penalize me for it… only a failed state
would sing that song.
Non-smokers who also sing that song will soon regret it.
Secondhand smoke and Pandora's box
So what about the dangers from secondhand smoke? It’s all baloney... these
faulty studies were conducted by the biased anti-smoking lobbyists.. behind
which lurk the insurance lobbyists. These 'studies' are now aptly being
called advocacy science.
Even if it were true, those so easily affected, so fragile, shouldn’t be in
public without a mask. After all, they’re more likely to catch their death of
cold. That’s because people with head colds and the flu still freely mingle
in public places… infecting nearly everyone nearby. Flu can be deadly to the
elderly… not so a whiff of smoke. Being that the state ignores this is more
evidence tobacco legislation is absolutely not about health.
These arguments will fall on the deaf ears in government however. Most legislators
would consider them merely academic because they have no interest in making laws
which are logical or just anymore… it’s all about raising revenue wherever they
can. Nowadays, in looking for a quick-fix for a budget problem, they continually
open Pandora's box. As a result, treachery often escapes.
America, being a nation of states having gone legislatively awry, now judiciously
out-of-step by any measure, perhaps a needed king will soon rule America to
straighten things out. Perhaps it's time for America to take her chances on a
monarchy… after all; even a bad king could do no worse.
As was the case during the Civil War, the term ‘traitor’ will be in vogue once
again.
Lawmakers hast diluted man's meaning of free,
added more water to hence weaken life's glee.
From tears of frustration in crying for hope,
grows a sour apple tree with a dangling rope.
A good king would destroy many undeserved reputations and legacies too… except
for honorable men such as Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin… he having recently
ordered the tobacco tax money subsequently collected by his treasury department
for untaxed cigarettes purchased over the Internet returned to the purchaser. It
was bureaucratic exuberance squashed.
Bravo, Governor Doyle!! It is indeed the duty of the retailer to either collect
or account for state taxes! It was a step in the right direction. He needs now
only assure his tobacco tax rate is reasonable.
UPDATE: It seems Doyle's sense of justice
was short-lived. On January 24, 2007 he proposed a tax increase of $1.25 for a
pack of cigarettes saying he would dedicate the funds to pay the cost of
tobacco-related illness. Yeah, right.
Most state governments would be dissolved as well. Due to the deceit surrounding
the tobacco settlements from the get-go, plus the diversion of this
unprecedented windfall of revenue, clearly one for the history books, fashioned
now into a forever-lasting symbol of greed, the king may only allow the state
governments of Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina
and Tennessee to survive… although as a result of further investigation some of
these might be extinguished as well.
History has taught us how much kings hate insubordination and the states have
been, after all, insubordinate. Our constitution says so. Out of 50, all but a
few are now failed states. Strange cognizance... a king needed to save democracy.
Smokers... the disenfranchised minority
As was the case in many southern states before, during and after the Civil War,
the state governments are once again violating civil liberties... this time by
targeting smokers for punishment, a now disenfranchised minority. After all, a
minority is a minority… race happens only to be one reason a ‘minority’ might
exist. It is, therefore, once again time for the federals to exercise their
jurisdictional powers as authorized by the 14th Amendment.
So to hell with states rights! We shouldn’t let the states fashion democracy
into yet another form of despotism. The only reason this is occurring however is
because accountability wasn't adequately addressed by our founding fathers.
About treason unfortunately, the American Constitution only states this in
Article III, Section 3:
Clause 1: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War
against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No
Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to
the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
Clause 2: The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason,
but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except
during the Life of the Person attainted.
Accordingly then, ‘adhering to their enemies’ (‘their’ meaning the
‘states’ as separate and independent) and ‘giving them aid and comfort’
are the only two ways one could be treasonous… nothing at all was put forth,
unfortunately, about sabotaging the constitution and passing unconstitutional
laws are nothing less than acts of sabotage. For any law later found
unconstitutional by the courts, the responsible legislators must be seen as
traitors and dealt with as such.
For upon thy house it always rains,
washes asunder all peaks to plains.
Lest fly an eagle, teeth of a wolf,
eateth will evil holes in thy roof.
Decisions shouldn’t depend on what other states or countries do about reining-in
their madness either. The first needed step is for the state to reduce the
exorbitant tobacco tax rate to a reasonable rate. A 'reasonable rate' would
seemingly mean the standard rate plus an additional amount which ONLY covers the
costs of tobacco-related programs (although the best choice is all expenditures
come out of the general fund). Secondly, while seemingly apropos for government
buildings, all these intrusive non-smoking laws aimed at private establishments
should be nullified. They are a fundamentally wrong... their existence makes a
mockery out of 'property rights'. Further, non-smoking regulations for bars and
restaurants aren’t what the majority want anyway... period. If it were true,
regulations wouldn’t have been necessary… profit-minded business owners would
have quickly filled that need. It it were true, bars and restaurants wouldn't be
failing because of it.
In that there is wickedness in majority rule, majority rule cannot be an alibi.
In that political correctness is akin to majority rule, it cannot be an alibi.
What then is the alibi of the states?
What were our legislators thinking?
While the exorbitant tax rate on cigarettes doesn’t equal the brutality of
tyrants, except… punishing people for smoking would have been unthinkable even
for Stalin. Only Puritans, religious zealots and do-gooders think otherwise.
They, not tyrants, pose the greatest danger to personal freedoms.
Legislators just don't seem to understand the power of freedom
anymore either. Little do they know it is medicine from the gods for much of what
ails society. It may work slower but only because it works systemically. Unlike
quick-fixes that are short-lived and have horrid side-effects, the medicinal
properties of freedom will last forever. With legislators ignoring history is the
main reason we have failed states.
Resorting to despotism
The power of freedom is often forgotten however, it isn't just a recent curiosity.
Proof of this lies in the fact it doesn’t matter which political faction survives
a conflict… the end result is always the same. All institutions resort to despotism
eventually. Let the realities serve as testimony... freedoms always become diluted
or disappear altogether. The political systems of mankind can't seem to advance
beyond being a game of who gets to be boss. And, as usual, the tragedies only beset
the citizens of these ideologies.
The remedy? A constitution with teeth.
The liberties which these so-called democratic states have taken, both literally
and jurisdictionally, are proof of a failed system. Justice, once considered the
foundation of democracy, has been replaced by avaricious expediency. Justice is
now only the veneer... window-dressing.
Wandering aimlessly was man’s system of rules,
'twas legislated entire by shortsighted fools.
With freedoms forsaken, hence cast to the sea,
lost in avariciousness were veracity and thee.
Pity too thy pleasures, for going up in smoke,
sins torched by the state for wearing no yoke.
From judicial insanity and a reasoning absurd,
history will cuss tyranny for losing the herd.
Unless the states sooner redeem themselves, such audacious meddling into the
private lives of its citizens will soon prove America being the most domineering
state since Spain was during the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834). That does not
mean 'oppressive' in a brutal sense however. There are countless other countries
which deserve that title. Still, it is the enforcement of standards over morality
and habits. While a brutally oppressive state is much worse, a domineering one will
take much the joy out of living. Instead of killing its citizens... America saps
their juices instead. This explains much of the substance abuse in America... it's
a means of escape. Overall usage (substance abuse) is a barometer of the social
ills and tighter controls only worsens them.
The role of the state is to administer the needs of its citizens regardless of
their unique customs and habits. To make uniform and mother is not the role of
the state… only small men, zealots, busybodies, communists and state
employees would believe otherwise.
A.O. Kime
"A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments
in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no
great thing can really be accomplished; and that the perfection of machinery to
which it has sacrificed everything, will in the end avail it nothing, for want
of the vital power which, in order that the machine might work more smoothly it
has preferred to banish." John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
"Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its
members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the
better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and
culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is
its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs." ---
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
"It is curious to me that while so many voices, pens, minds, in the press,
lecture rooms, in our Congress, etc., are discussing intellectual topics,
pecuniary dangers, legislative problems, the suffrage, tariff and labor
questions, and the various business and benevolent needs of America, with
propositions, remedies, often worth deep attention, there is one need, a hiatus
the profoundest, that no eye seems to perceive, no voice to state. Our
fundamental want today in the United States, with closest, amplest reference to
present conditions, and to the future, is of a class, and the clear idea of a
class, of native authors, literatures, far different, far higher in grade, than
any yet known, sacerdotal, modern, fit to cope with our occasions, lands,
permeating the whole mass of American mentality, taste, belief, breathing into
it a new breath of life, giving it decision, affecting politics far more than
the popular superficial suffrage, with results inside and underneath the
elections of Presidents or Congresses-- radiating, begetting appropriate
teachers, schools, manners, and as its grandest result, accomplishing (what
neither the schools nor the churches and their clergy have hitherto
accomplished, and without which this nation will no more stand, permanently,
soundly, than a house will stand without a substratum), a religious and moral
character beneath the political and productive and intellectual bases of the
States. For know you not, dear, earnest reader, that the people of our land may
all read and write, and may all possess the right to vote-- and yet the main
things may be entirely lacking?" --- Walt Whitman (1819-1892) (from
Democracy's Need)
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