Heads Up, Chicago

[JustJulie]

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Chicago City Council followed in the footsteps of New York City by prohibiting vaping in the same places where smoking is banned, now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promoting a tax on vapor products and other tobacco products (OTP) not currently subject to city taxes or fees.

See the Call to Action for Chicago on how you can help:

CASAA: Chicago, IL - Local Alert! Oppose extra taxes on e-cigarettes and other smoke-free nicotine products.

 

[kkiet]

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Chicago City Council followed in the footsteps of New York City by prohibiting vaping in the same places where smoking is banned, now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promoting a tax on vapor products and other tobacco products (OTP) not currently subject to city taxes or fees.

See the Call to Action for Chicago on how you can help:

CASAA: Chicago, IL - Local Alert! Oppose extra taxes on e-cigarettes and other smoke-free nicotine products.

It is a shame but more and more city and states are following, Everything is about money. Just my opinion.

 

[nicnik]

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Chicago City Council followed in the footsteps of New York City by prohibiting vaping in the same places where smoking is banned, now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promoting a tax on vapor products and other tobacco products (OTP) not currently subject to city taxes or fees.

See the Call to Action for Chicago on how you can help:

CASAA: Chicago, IL - Local Alert! Oppose extra taxes on e-cigarettes and other smoke-free nicotine products.

Are the town hall meetings dealing with all those budget issues, or just the taxing of vaping products?
EDIT: Never mind...it's all the budget stuff.
Emanuel sets three public meetings to talk Chicago budget gap - Chicago Tribune

 

[pennysmalls]

I don't live in Illinois but Chicago is very close to where I am. I left a remark on Rahm's facebook page, I'm sure it will do very little to help but I'm so sick of this. Leave people who are trying to quit smoking alone, stop treating us like atm's.

 

[sofarsogood]

Organized crime is a major Chicago industry and has been for a long time. To have the criminal organizations there have to be draconian laws for them to break that make money. Then the politicians make their money by looking the other way and getting their cut of the action. They must think that ecig smuggling is a promising new criminal activity but first they need to tax them so there is something worth smuggling.

 

[nicnik]

Are the town hall meetings dealing with all those budget issues, or just the taxing of vaping products?
EDIT: Never mind...it's all the budget stuff.
Emanuel sets three public meetings to talk Chicago budget gap - Chicago Tribune

Any effort to organize vapers and shop owners to attend the meetings would get buried by the passionate and organized opposition to other policies and proposals.

Chicago and Mayor Emanuel Face a $20 Billion Reckoning - Bloomberg Business

How could we possibly compete for attention with hunger strikers?

Emanuel meets with Dyett hunger strikers after town hall budget session | Chicago Sun-Times

 

[nicnik]

I just typed out a message in the comments section of the Casaa page linked to in this thread, and it wiped out my message when I clicked on preview. Not too happy about that.

 

[nicnik]

I just typed out a message in the comments section of the Casaa page linked to in this thread, and it wiped out my message when I clicked on preview. Not too happy about that.

Well, I went back there to try again, and this time I noticed it said at the bottom, "Comments on this blog are restricted to team members." I wish that had been above the comment box. Better yet, I wish the comments were open to all members.

 

[nicnik]

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Chicago City Council followed in the footsteps of New York City by prohibiting vaping in the same places where smoking is banned, now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promoting a tax on vapor products and other tobacco products (OTP) not currently subject to city taxes or fees.

See the Call to Action for Chicago on how you can help:

CASAA: Chicago, IL - Local Alert! Oppose extra taxes on e-cigarettes and other smoke-free nicotine products.

From that page:

The Mayor has announced three town hall meetings that are open to the public. These are excellent opportunities for vapor and tobacco harm reduction advocates to voice opposition to extra taxes on vapor products and smokeless tobacco.

and:

Please make plans to attend these meetings. Although these are not city council meetings, please observe city council chamber decorum.

There are a number of budget proposals that are up for discussion, mostly very controversial, and many people are angry. The meetings are also supposed to be a platform for other budget suggestions. The vaping tax can't help but be buried in the chaos, and I doubt any efforts to be heard would go very well.

My suggestion is to edit that page. I don't live in Chicago, but nearby, and I am familiar with the political atmosphere surrounding these meetings. Here are a couple of articles about how the first one at Malcolm X College went:

Chicago and Mayor Emanuel Face a $20 Billion Reckoning - Bloomberg Business

Emanuel meets with Dyett hunger strikers after town hall budget session | Chicago Sun-Times

 

[nicnik]

Well, I went back there to try again, and this time I noticed it said at the bottom, "Comments on this blog are restricted to team members." I wish that had been above the comment box. Better yet, I wish the comments were open to all members.

Also, after the comment box, it says you have to use a Google account to post. Would be better if that info was up front. When I clicked on "Preview", it opened a box for signing in to google, and when I cancelled that, my message had disappeared. Then I saw the instructions.

I suggest putting the info about team members only, and the Google requirement, above the message box.

In spite of my frustration, I've got to thank Casaa for alerting people about the proposed vaping tax.

 

[nicnik]

From that page:

and:

There are a number of budget proposals that are up for discussion, mostly very controversial, and many people are angry. The meetings are also supposed to be a platform for other budget suggestions. The vaping tax can't help but be buried in the chaos, and I doubt any efforts to be heard would go very well.

My suggestion is to edit that page. I don't live in Chicago, but nearby, and I am familiar with the political atmosphere surrounding these meetings. Here are a couple of articles about how the first one at Malcolm X College went:

Chicago and Mayor Emanuel Face a $20 Billion Reckoning - Bloomberg Business

Emanuel meets with Dyett hunger strikers after town hall budget session | Chicago Sun-Times

Additional info from this article:
Chicago taxpayers sound off at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's public forum on city budget | abc7chicago.com

Despite several layers of security to even reach the Malcolm X College gymnasium at 1900 West Van Buren Street, and almost 10 minutes of admonishments to be polite, the first public hearing on the 2016 budget was at times as out of control as the financial crisis appears.

and

meetings are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., but doors will open at 5:30 p.m. They are open to all interested residents.

It's sounds like you'd have to show identification to get in, and that you'd have to be a Chicago resident. If you live in the suburbs you may be impacted if you buy any vape supplies in the city, but you're probably better off not trying to get in, and instead, diverting that energy to responding in other ways.

 

[nicnik]

Update - Here's how the second town hall meeting went:

Emanuel escorted from meeting after protesters swarm stage | Chicago Sun-Times

ETA: A more thorough article and video:

Security ushers Emanuel away as Dyett protesters take to stage at budget hearing - Chicago Tribune

If I were a city resident, I might want to attend the third meeting tomorrow night, in support of the those protesting the school closing.

ETA#2: Well, one person seems to have been heard on the issue of the vaping and smokeless tobacco tax, but it was in support of it:
Emanuel takes political beating in stride after town hall meeting | Chicago Sun-Times

One of the town hall participants suggested extending the city’s cigarette tax to e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. That’s an idea championed by Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1st).

And here's an editorial that's got me rethinking whether or not I am in support of the hunger strikers (however I am against the school closing):
Mitchell: Dyett hunger strikers seek to block access | Chicago Sun-Times

 

[JustJulie]

Well, I went back there to try again, and this time I noticed it said at the bottom, "Comments on this blog are restricted to team members." I wish that had been above the comment box. Better yet, I wish the comments were open to all members.

We used to have open comments, but then we started getting spam, profanity, and all sorts of remarkably unintelligent "comments." I'm going to be honest . . . we simply don't have the time to moderate comments.

We're expecting to issue a new Call to Action for Chicago in the next week or so.

 

[nicnik]

We used to have open comments, but then we started getting spam, profanity, and all sorts of remarkably unintelligent "comments." I'm going to be honest . . . we simply don't have the time to moderate comments.

We're expecting to issue a new Call to Action for Chicago in the next week or so.

Thanks, JustJulie. I understand. Chicago's another place desperate to find revenue sources. Pension obligations severely underfunded. Credit ratings collapsing. Smoking declining...

 

[nicnik]

How much will you pay for Chicago's new taxes?

The tax on e-cigarettes will be adjusted so to match the current tax on a regular pack of cigarettes, $7.17. According to EverSmoke.com, one e-cigarette is similar to buying one package of cigarettes, so a person who would usually smoke five packs in one week might use about five e-cigarettes in one week. (The average Illinoisan who smokes consumes about 16 cigarettes per day. At 20 cigarettes per pack, that comes to about five packs per week, equal to five e-cigarettes per week.)

So this vape tax looks like it'll be about $7 per ml.

Looks like that $1,864 per year is based on about 5ml liquid per week. How many vapers use that little?
It's the most regressive of those taxes, and by far, the most punishing.

 

[nicnik]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is

... very well to do and very well connected. Many in Chicago are calling for him to abandon his tax plan, and instead get the money needed from those most able to afford, and deserving of paying.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/politics/04emanuel.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Mr. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions.

Freddie Mac scandals began during Emanuel's watch - Chicago Tribune

On Emanuel's watch, the board was told by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments. The goal was to push earnings onto the books in future years, ensuring that Freddie Mac would appear profitable on paper for years to come and helping maximize annual bonuses for company brass.

 

[rothenbj]

Chicago obviously want their smoker's back. Obviously this proposal will raise $0 in nicquid revenue. Currently, a 30ml bottle of decent nicquid costs, say, $19. That bottle would cost $229 with a $7 tax/ml. Who's going to pay that when online prices remain low and you can avoid the tax by just driving out of the city. Talk about a black market! Guaranteed.

 

[nicnik]

Chicago obviously want their smoker's back. Obviously this proposal will raise $0 in nicquid revenue. Currently, a 30ml bottle of decent nicquid costs, say, $19. That bottle would cost $229 with a $7 tax/ml. Who's going to pay that when online prices remain low and you can avoid the tax by just driving out of the city. Talk about a black market! Guaranteed.

They're not the first government people to reject everything the people who make and sell vaping stuff claim, except for the one claim by some that 1ml liquid is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes. The Mayor and the alderman who support this, will modify it when they realize just how huge a price increase this would create, either before it gets passed, or after. They don't know what they're doing, and only listen to people who are saying what they want to hear, so they're bound to keep being misinformed on nearly every aspect of vaping.

 

[nicnik]

A Chicago Alderman has now introduced a bill that would tax e-liquid at $.25 per milimeter. MUCH better, but still not good. No excise taxes is the only wise, and only eithical course.

 

[nicnik]

It looks as though Mayor Emanuel has backed Alderman Moreno's proposal, which is for a way lower tax on vaping than Emanuel's proposal. I have a hard time calling that good news, since the tax itself is immoral and destructive, and its selling points are the same old ANTS lies.

This article not only quotes the ANTZ and politicians lying, but also some great comments by some dissenting aldermen:

Moreno and medical experts make the case for taxing e-cigarettes | Chicago Sun-Times