Above and beyond normal sales taxes? Why?
How about a logical argument against the death penalty for using taxation as a social engineering tool?
USA Today: States target e-cigarettes as potential revenue source
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How about a logical argument against the death penalty for using taxation as a social engineering tool?
Again wit the extremes. It's becoming increasingly obvious that it's impossible to have a discussion around here without it getting emotional and out of hand. Lesson learned, I'll just go back to looking at the pretty pictures.
There's no logical reason that e cigs or e cig liquid should be taxed any different than any other consumer good, at the States sales tax rate. The hardware should be taxed identically to a flashlight. Basically most of the components, sans the heating element and liquid holder are identical. The liquid is PG, VG and water, again sales tax products. The only ingredient in question is the nicotine if you're using it that has any association with tobacco. It's an alkaloid found in tobacco as well as many nightshade vegetables. Unless you can establish a societal cost of vaping, there is no justification for taxing it above and beyond any other consumer product.
Consumption of nicotine isn't a luxury imo. It feeds a need. If you're addicted to nicotine as I am, you need to feed that addiction
but juice and mods are not luxury items imo. At least not in the way I'm thinking a luxury item is anyway.
That being said, a luxury tax is for products not considered essential. Charged as a percentage on all items of particular classes, except that it mainly affects the wealthy because the wealthy are the most likely to buy luxuries such as expensive cars and jewelry.
By definition the term luxury tax has remained even though many of the products that are assessed with luxury taxes today are no longer seen as luxuries in the literal sense. The terms "sin taxes" and "excise taxes" would work if we are going to have tax revenues put upon us for our vaping pleasures. I still say we are taxed enough on our other pleasures but I admit I can't see any way around the government not making us pay taxes on it. It would be nice to leave Uncle Sam out of the loop, but with the way people are purchasing all the high end products associated with vaping, I doubt it will be long before Uncle Sam gets into the game, whatever they choose to call the taxes.
If you can recall back in the early 90s, there was a luxury tax placed on yachts and expensive cars, I believe. It expired sometime fairly early in the new century. Very little got collected with this 10% tax as people just went out of the country to buy. I know it put a lot of people out of business and jobs in the boat building business.
That's because those who impose taxes keep breaking the law.
The law of diminishing returns.
You can only raise the cost of something so high in your efforts to bring in more money. If you pass that point, you will start to lose money because people will go elsewhere to get what they want.
As states and cities have learned to their financial disadvantage. Tax cigarettes up the wazoo? People will go to the nearest city or state that has lower taxes, or patronize their friendly neighorhood smuggler and pay no taxes at all. (I believe NYC is finally realizing this...)
rothenbj -- and that is why companies are not doing as much business in the US and moving their manufacturing
overseas. The government has imposed way to many taxes and regulations upon US companies to the point where they can't
make a profit with staying open here in the US. That and unions have all but ruined manufacturing in the US and in turn have
taken jobs from our citizens and given work to others in other countries. It's all about the bottom line, the dollar.
I use to not buy anything but US made goods, but now it's hard to go into any store and not find all of the goods there made in China or other countries that use cheap labor. NAFTA was just the start of a spiraling downward of companies that are US
based moving their factories to China and other places. Those companies that haven't moved all of their facilities to overseas
production have expanded their overseas workforces much faster than the ones at home. At a time when more than 12 million people are still unemployed here in the US.
The government will never learn not to tax businesses into moving overseas, or to impose regulations on them where it
is no longer profitable to make their products. Lets hope they don't start regulating vape products like tanks and atomizers.
But don't be surprised if they do just that very thing.
A slightly tenious but related link Elaine
We, the vapers of the World could be in a prime position to aid in 'studies' regarding (isolated) Nicotine and brain chemistry-Thats IF those (insert very bad words here) leave us all alone to carry on as before without too much interference.
another arrow in the quiver ? (it may mean aligning with that big bad word at the moment re 'classification' -medicine).
BBC News - G8 'will develop dementia cure or treatment by 2025'
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Volcalek said it perfectly...
Studies are showing nicotine isnt as bad as we have been led to believe by society. Studies suggest it has been used to self medicate -which means its saved lives and not just the user -in my case it has saved the lives of others. Some people refer to my Provari as a crack pipe but I tell them its my Peace pipe. It helps keep me peaceful among the natives.
Studies are showing nicotine isnt as bad as we have been led to believe by society. Studies suggest it has been used to self medicate -which means its saved lives and not just the user -in my case it has saved the lives of others. Some people refer to my Provari as a crack pipe but I tell them its my Peace pipe. It helps keep me peaceful among the natives.
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