North Dakotans Calling Tobacco Quit Line

Ken McCracken  •  November 27, 2007

Which is great, I guess, except if these people quit smoking what happens to the tax revenue their habit brings in? How are we going to pay for all that health care for children that the Democrats (and ND Governor John Hoeven) wanted to fund through taxes on tobacco?
I think this illustrates the absurdity of government excise taxes, at least when it comes to discouraging a certain type of activity. If people keep smoking or doing whatever it is the tax is supposed to discourage then it has failed. If they stop doing it over time, then bureaucrats are clamoring to replace that revenue stream with another tax.
Meaning that the government actually forces us to pay for our bad habits, and then continue paying even after we quit them.

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  • http://www.banyanhypnosiscenter.com/ rhondamccray

    your right specially that tobacco does have a big amount of tax.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    Hoeven…..only to the extent that ND wanted a change from 140% to 150% of poverty.

    How do we know that. He said he wanted it expanded and I don’t believe he ever spoke out against the Democrats plan.

    It could be that I missed it but I would like to see the proof.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    I know many state employees who are very dedicated to their jobs and work hard every day to provide the services that you take for granted.

    And for everyone of those theirs someone watching them bitching about not being paid enough.

  • george

    Rob,

    You know darn well that Hoeven did not support the tobacco tax the Dems pitched. His SCHIP efforts were prior to the Dem ridiculous Dem plan being unveiled and only to the extent that ND wanted a change from 140% to 150% of poverty. How many times are you going to go to that false well?

  • ec99

    How about a grams of fat tax on restaurant and grocery store products? With all the fast food places in GF, it would be a cash cow.

  • Duane

    Attacking every state employee to try to make some kind of point is way over the top. I know many state employees who are very dedicated to their jobs and work hard every day to provide the services that you take for granted.

    And Rob, you are starting to sound like a Democrat, or worse…a member of the traditional media…when you turn even good news into a negative story.

  • http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

    I’m sure John Hoeven will figure that it’s not fair to make us pay for what he doesn’t get from the smokers.

    He can just ask the government workers in the state to become slightly less unproductive.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    Attacking every state employee to try to make some kind of point is way over the top. I know many state employees who are very dedicated to their jobs and work hard every day to provide the services that you take for granted.

    How am I attacking state employees? Is the fact that most state employees a) think their agency is underfunded and b) think they’re underpaid some sort of new revelation?

    Because the politicians I know, left and right, make jokes about it that are funny because they’re true.

    And Rob, you are starting to sound like a Democrat, or worse…a member of the traditional media…when you turn even good news into a negative story.

    Opposing social engineering through the tax code makes me a Democrat? That makes no sense.

    But really, I take the Popeye approach to these things: I am what I am. I call things as I see them, and taxing tobacco to try and keep people from smoking while simultaneously counting on that revenue to fund other initiatives is pretty much the definition of absurdity.

    Maybe you should ask yourself why you don’t like many of my posts, and you’ll probably find yourself wondering why you’re supporting shoddy leadership from someone like John Hoeven.

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