Tax Farming - Is this what FDA proposed legislation is? You bet it is!

[WongNumba]

Meddlesome preferences and rent extraction: the tobacco shakedown

tobacco has become an arena of civil warfare throughout the Western
world over the past half-century or so. This war has been fueled by an
ideological rhetoric that speaks of the costs that smokers place on nonsmokers
(Office of Technology Assessment (1985)(1993)). The state claims to wage the
war to protect innocent nonsmokers from predatory attacks by smokers. This
claim has now been thoroughly refuted, starting with Tollison and Wagner (1988),
as extended in Tollison and Wagner (1992). Whereas Tollison and Wagner
argue that those costs are borne wholly by smokers, such authors as Manning et
al. (1989), Gravelle and Zimmerman (1994), and Viscusi (1997) argue that there
are some modest costs shifted onto nonsmokers, but that those costs are
significantly less than the excise taxes that are currently imposed on cigarettes.
As a result, smokers do not impose costs on nonsmokers but rather subsidize
nonsmokers. Yet the war on tobacco continues, and in a big way. What the
continuation of the war perhaps illustrates is the interaction between
meddlesome preferences and rent extraction.

See the full article at: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rwagner/Meddlesome%20preferences%20and%20rent%20extraction%20rwagner.PDF


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[zoiDman]

The entire Tobacco Farming morass is about the Most Convoluted thing I can Imagine.

 

[aubergine]

The entire Tobacco Farming morass is about the Most Convoluted thing I can Imagine.

Ya, it's insane. Fascinating and bizarre.

 

[rico942]

It has aways seemed bizarre to me that government would so relentlessly assualt one of its own sources of revenue, demonizing it in the media, and imposing endless penalties and restrictions ...

But apparently that is consistent with the schitzophrenic nature of the political mind ...

 

[jpargana]

It has aways seemed bizarre to me that government would so relentlessly assualt one of its own sources of revenue, demonizing it in the media, and imposing endless penalties and restrictions ...

But apparently that is consistent with the schitzophrenic nature of the political mind ...

We must not forget, however, that said 'attacks' are NOT going to make anyone actually stop smoking. So, the source of revenue will always be protected.

See what happened in the UK, with a drastic increase of pubs being closed due to lost business. From 2007 onwards, when new draconian, anti-smoking laws were passed, pubs have been closing at a rate three or four times the previous years. And yet, people did not stop smoking. They just stopped going to pubs. Big GOVT knew this already.

See what hapened in the States, with the 'flavouring ban' on cigarettes - and yet, not ALL flavours were 'created equal'... menthol, which is THE flavour, the ONE, used by more than 50% of young smokers, was NOT banned, thanks to a specific, almost cirurgical 'exception'... all those dirty politicians did was ban SOME flavours (mainly imported ones, and the less used overall), while protecting the ONE domestic flavour that is actually the MOST used! They managed to fool the dumb electrorate by pretending they were concerned about "the young, who smoke flavoured cigarettes" while at the same time, protecting the tobacco business by getting rid of the little foreign competition there was, AND also by making sure the ONE flavour that REALLY mattered would still be available to "the young, who smoke menthol cigarettes". In fact, they did not only NOT ban menthol flavour on brands that used to have menthol in them, they also allowed the making of several "menthol crush" brands. So, "the young" now have a full array of choices available: not only the 'traditional' menthol brands, but also many other 'older' brands that now have 'optional' menthol flavouring in them...! "Huraaayy! Now I will be able to smoke almost ANY tobacco brand!! That's 'kewl'!!"

 

[Bill Godshall]

Although undated, the anti cigarette tax article/rant posted by WongNumba is more than a decade old (as its most recently cited reference was from 1999), and has absolutely nothing to do vaping, e-cigs or the proposed FDA deeming regulation.

The purpose of this Legislative News section is to post important national, state and local legislative news that impacts vapers, vaping and the vapor product industry.

This thread should be deleted by admins, as it has nothing to do with vaping, the FDA deeming regulation, ortobacco farming, and is instead just another distraction from the real legislaive threats we face.

 

[skoony]

Although undated, the anti cigarette tax article/rant posted by WongNumba is more than a decade old (as its most recently cited reference was from 1999), and has absolutely nothing to do vaping, e-cigs or the proposed FDA deeming regulation.

The purpose of this Legislative News section is to post important national, state and local legislative news that impacts vapers, vaping and the vapor product industry.

This thread should be deleted by admins, as it has nothing to do with vaping, the FDA deeming regulation, ortobacco farming, and is instead just another distraction from the real legislaive threats we face.

hi bill,
i agree with you. what sub-forum would one put this?
its does have relevance as it puts in perspective a historical frame work as to how
and why we are where we are.especially for a relative new comer like me.
regards
mike