Did the number of smokers drop as a result of the 1998 tobacco settlement?

[bolbim33]

what do you think?

 

[yakko]

Nope.

 

[Zim Hosein]

boLbim33, I think it has more to do w/ the current price of a pack of smokes; reason #1 why I'm quitting

 

[bolbim33]

seems like price doesn't affect it though. Are there any good stats that you can back it up with?

 

[Zim Hosein]

No stats boLbim33, just a personal opinion. $5.40 a pack is excessive in my opinion

 

[Stifko]

Yeah the price is way too high here too, I gotta quit soon too and the price is a big part of the reason.

 

[Cyco]

Prices rising was one of the reasons I quit. Family was the important reason why I quit.

 

[GRIFFIN1]

It's time to start growing my own.

 

[Frosty3799]

why dont the tobacco companies get a clue and lower the prices.. they would sell much better

 

[Wallydraigle]

why dont the tobacco companies get a clue and lower the prices.. they would sell much better

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Frosty3799
why dont the tobacco companies get a clue and lower the prices.. they would sell much better

They would if they could, but they've been forced by these silly lawsuits to raise their prices to cover the costs. Also, the vast majorty of the price per pack is taxes, not the wholesale cost of the cigarettes.

BTW, raising prices on cigarettes have, overall, had the OPPOSITE effect on teen smoking. Between 1988 and 1998 the rate of teen smoking rose over 73%. Only with new education campagins, and a shift in personal opinion has smoking among teens dropped just slightly in the past two years.

Maybe, just maybe, our government will get the clue that you cannot ban or regulate a substance out of existence. You would have thought they learned their lesson with alcohol, but nooooo...

 

[Wallydraigle]

Maybe, just maybe, our government will get the clue that you cannot ban or regulate a substance out of existence. You would have thought they learned their lesson with alcohol, but nooooo...

They did learn their lesson with alcohol. Why ban something when you can tax it?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: lirion

Maybe, just maybe, our government will get the clue that you cannot ban or regulate a substance out of existence. You would have thought they learned their lesson with alcohol, but nooooo...

They did learn their lesson with alcohol. Why ban something when you can tax it?

Yes, but overtaxing an item, or taxing it in an affort to force a morality will garner the same effects as a ban. If an item costs too much legally, people will start bootlegging it. Ask Canada what happened when they raised their cigarette tax to ridiculous levels in the late 80s, early 90s.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Absolutely. That's why they do it incrimentally. My state just raised cigarette taxes by $.31 a pack. The only reason they did it is to make for a budget deficit. It's just an endless money supply for them. But my point is they had to figure out just how much they could get away with before smokers woud just buy from another state. Next time they'll do the same thing and people will keep buying. Government can't afford to ban tobacco.

 

[Wallydraigle]

And something else, any kind of moral judgement implied by these taxes is just PR. The government wants you to smoke, but they can't very well come out and say that.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: lirion
Absolutely. That's why they do it incrimentally. My state just raised cigarette taxes by $.31 a pack. The only reason they did it is to make for a budget deficit. It's just an endless money supply for them. But my point is they had to figure out just how much they could get away with before smokers woud just buy from another state. Next time they'll do the same thing and people will keep buying. Government can't afford to ban tobacco.

Yes, but unlike frogs, humans WILL jump out of the water before they boil alive. Watch for tobacco bootlegging to gain ground. Already there are quite a few internet sites to buy tobacco and avoid state taxes.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Eventually, but I don't think we're quite to that point yet. We're a lot more urbanized now than during Prohibition. Bootlegging will catch on out in the boonies where you can just grow your own way before it does in the cities. This won't affect the market a whole lot, but it will eventually reach a point where city people look for an alternative to paying out the nose and where there's a demand a supply will form. Uncle Sam will be very jealous of his precious revenues, and we'll have Prohibition all over again. Soon, but not for a few years at least. Do you think that the government will actually let it go that far?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: lirion
Eventually, but I don't think we're quite to that point yet. We're a lot more urbanized now than during Prohibition. Bootlegging will catch on out in the boonies where you can just grow your own way before it does in the cities. This won't affect the market a whole lot, but it will eventually reach a point where city people look for an alternative to paying out the nose and where there's a demand a supply will form. Uncle Sam will be very jealous of his precious revenues, and we'll have Prohibition all over again. Soon, but not for a few years at least. Do you think that the government will actually let it go that far?

They already have. You can get duty free cigarettes for $14 a carton online. Compare that to $30-$35 in US stores.

When it becomes cheaper to import cigarettes than it is to buy them here, people are going to start doing just that... and they already have.