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have now been extended to the outdoors and in some cases; to private residences and automobiles! On the other hand, those who implement these Fascist-like ordinances are biting off the figurative hand that feeds them. If there is nobody left to tax, where will the revenue come from?

Smokers currently make up approximately 20% of America's adult population, yet they are singled out as scapegoats in the government's attempts to offset the ever-rising health care costs of the entire nation's inhabitants. Since there are now around 300 million of us who reside in the United States, wouldn't it be far more equitable to tax items we all use, regardless of smoking preference? Several years back, Independent Presidential candidate Ross Perot had the right idea to get our country out of debt. He suggested an additional gas tax of 50 cents per gallon. This would have equated to less than $1.00 a day for every licensed driver. To become a debt-free nation, that was a bargain. Well, Perot is out of the picture now, but there are so many other ways to generate revenue without discriminating against a select group of citizens. Tax other items and/or activities that are risky to one's well-being, such as fast food, candy bars, bungee-jumping, skydiving, fishing for crab in the Bering Sea, driving racecars, and riding roller coasters; to name just a few. Everyone would be paying their fair share. Cigarettes should still be taxed, but every state should impose the same rate. Why should someone in Wisconsin have to pay $6.00 a pack when the same product costs $3.80 in Missouri? This merely encourages purchasing cigarettes across state borders to evade ridiculously high taxes that should have never been imposed to begin with!

As smokers, we WILL find a way to boycott unfair taxes. We will drive to Native American smoke shops. We will stock up on cigarettes we purchase in lower-taxed locations. We will roll our own. If we have to, we will grow our own tobacco. States that tax tobacco products so high that they are unaffordable to all but the most affluent of smokers will suffer catastrophic losses in cigarette revenue.

There is a simple solution: Drop the tobacco tax rate to a reasonable level. Tax other items and activities as suggested above to offset the lower cigarette levy. Otherwise, we will spend our hard-earned cash elsewhere.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Sills.
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