Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I love you New York but sometimes you just make me want to scream, and not in a fun way either

I very rarely write about anything of substance on here; mainly because my views are just not that amusing, nor that scholarly, so I doubt you'd want to waste your time reading them.

Well, I'm going to have to tender my regrets because today I'm breaking the rules. I am fucking outraged and I am not going to take it anymore.

You see, I have a love-hate relationship with smoking, but mostly its just sweet, blissful love. I've quit a bunch of times, and yeah, when I did quit my hair smelled better, I could run a mile further, I probably didn't taste like an ashtray, and my lungs weren't eroding. I get the fucking appeal, okay. At the same time, outdoor cafes, cocktails, clubs, pubs, post-coital activities, road trips: nearly everything that I hold dear was rendered veritably incomplete by the loss of my dear cigarettes. I may very well leave this world attached to a breathing machine, but that's the price I'm willing to pay to be able to fucking live a little.

Well, New York City doesn't agree with me. Today, the state raised the cigarette tax by $1.25, effectively raising the cost of a pack to nearly $10.25. Their dubious calculations approximate that 140,000 New Yorkers will quit smoking on account of it. They say that this will move mountains in the efforts to deter youth from smoking. They say that this is a public health victory.

Well you know what I say New York City? FUCK YOU.

Seriously, go to hell. Until now the laws surrounding smokers have been centered on protecting the public from smokers' noxious fumes. Secondhand smoke has been rendered virtually a non issue since the banning of smoking from our public spaces. So why does the government have the right to impose higher taxes than on any other product on something that I enjoy virtually in private? The tax stands to result in $ 254 million in revenues per year, where the implementation of a congestion charge, through which the public would actually be done some good, would have resulted in $354 million in federal moneys. I think we can all agree this is not about public health, this is about punishing an already fucked consumer.

Furthermore, what on earth makes the government believe that teenagers- who will spend upwards of 100 dollars on Abercrombie jeans - will respond to economic disincentivization to adopt another "cool" activity? Why does the government tacitly allow tobacco companies to riddle their products with highly addictive and harmful chemicals only to turn around and further punish the consumer who chooses to partake, as opposed to taxing the aforementioned companies in larger sums?

In short, what the fuck is wrong with this picture?

As for me, I'm going to keep on keeping on. But maybe I'll start having to buy more duty free.

I'm out,
Girl

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should check out the wall street jounral opinion article a few weeks back. Apparently the tax does not lead to a decrease in smoking. In fact, it increases crime. Criminals have incentive more than ever to smuggle truck loads of cigs into the city. This happened in the 70s, but inflation took the incentive away. Politicians are idiots.

girl said...

That's so interesting- Do you by chance have the link? I'd love to read it. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

why?? because i don't want to have to pay all the fucking state insurance bills for you smokers pulling down govt assistanace in your middle/old age out of my own taxes. if your smoker clan wants to continue this activity that you know causes all kinds of hideous diseas and is constantly increasing the future tax burden on everyone else, you can pick it up you socialist.

girl said...

Ah bless, nothing gets me off more than the incoherent ramblings of an angry conservative. I must have been asleep when they implemented Universal Healthcare!

In the meantime, I'm considerably more apt to be supporting your obese red-state relations than you are paying the medical tab for my "smoker clan." How ridiculous of you to assume that by means of my challenging our government policy, I must be a poor Socialist.

How very trite.

Anonymous said...

Surely you know someone in fly over country who could send you a carton or two at a time via fedex and you could paypal them. I'd think there is something mildly illegal about that arrangement, but it seems as offensive as speeding in such small quantities.

Anonymous said...

Your argument (I am left to guess since you offer no facts yourself) is that smokers are not also heavy users of medicaid benefits? I suggest you review the demographic distribution of America's smokers.

Your outrage that I do not want to suffer the burden of paying for the health costs of a group of people who are intentionally killing themselves indicate that you are, in this, a socialist, just as surely as my desire not to do so moves you to label me an angry conservative.

Anonymous said...

Oh and you seem to be confused. I never said you are poor. I gather you are a big shot financier of some sort. In fact, though I am guessing you support lots of other taxes - payroll? capital gains? marginal income of higher tax brackets? - just not on precious cigarettes.

But how ridiculous of YOU to believe I think you are a SOCIALIST just because you are complaining about high taxes here. I reject your straw man that I say it just because you are "challenging our government policy." Yes yes, very contrarian of you to want lower taxes on a niche good that you consumer.

girl said...

@ 2:18, that's rather a fantastic idea and one that I will certainly look into, thanks.

@ 2:19, As I stated previously, I am not asking for lower taxes on the good that I choose to consume, but on more effective taxation in general (per the congestion tax example) and with regards this product in particular (via taxing the producers in greater quantities than those gleaned from the consumers).

I'm not in the least outraged as you are certainly entitled to your opinion, I just found it amusing that you resorted to the "You Socialist" argument so early in the game.

Anonymous said...

I certainly appreciate the irony I am calling you a socialist for complaining about a high tax and you me a conservative for defending said tax. Clearly something is amiss here.

I would absolutely agree to eliminate both the tax and medicaid benefits for smokers.

There are a million websites you can order cigarettes for $30 a carton. Some are run by the tribes, some are run out of foreign (eastern european mostly) countries. These are certainly something to look into although I remember several years ago the federales really dropped the hammer on some of these companies - seizing trucks and cargo planes full of smokes, etc.