TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey lawmakers are considering legislation that would extend tobacco taxes beyond cigarettes to e-cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco.
From NewsWorks.org:
Public health advocates say boosting the tax would … discourage the use of harmful products.
The federal government and many state governments have been throwing out that phony argument for years – that by taxing tobacco, they are convincing people to stop using the products. What nonsense.
They tax tobacco products because they know they are tapping into a very reliable source of revenue. They are taxing addicts
Government officials know very well that millions of smokers and other tobacco users will keep buying and using the products, no matter how much they tax them. They know that increased tobacco taxes will hurt family budgets, as users are forced to spend more to satisfy their addictions.
There is nothing more sinister than government taking advantage of human addiction to pad its revenues. And the politicians know they can get away with it, because the majority of people are not smokers and are more than happy to let someone else carry an unfair share of the tax burden.
