Comments on: Wisconsin Republican Rhetoric of the Day: Cigarette Tax Hurts Families?

By: Bruno Wolff III

Bruno Wolff III — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:23:17 +0000

I don’t think that the attidude reflected by “And what do you care anyways? You donâ€™t smoke.” is appropiate. If some small group I don’t belong to is being screwed over, I care because it isn’t fair. For example I didn’t like it when the state screwed over Illinois residents who owned property in Wisconsin by changing the property tax law so that special exceptions could be made with how property is taxed with the promise that the first people screwed over wouldn’t be the people allowed to vote on the change. Or the famous example of Tommy Thompson telling voters to Stick it to Milwaukee by voting on a referendum for financing a stadium for the Brewers, where again the people doing the voting weren’t the ones who were going to be paying the taxes.

If you want to argue that the cost to society isn’t reflected in the current tax rate or that the higher cost will significantly affect the decisions of minors (who can’t legally smoke) to start smoking that’s one thing, but to suggest that the tax is OK because it is being paid by somone else is not something I would have expected from you.

By: Daniel Cody

Daniel Cody — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:05:21 +0000

I wasn’t refering to Gov. Doyle’s proposed increase as “modest” for what it’s worth. I was simply saying “A modest increase”.

And what do you care anyways? You don’t smoke.

By: Yeah Boy

Yeah Boy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:48:37 +0000

Personally I donâ€™t see any problem with raising it a modest amount

And by “modest” Dan means almost tripling the tax from $0.77 to $2.02, which would move it from Dan’s number of 28th to fourth in the nation. Weeee.

‘”To really drive smoking down, you’ve got to have that shock to this,” Doyle said.’ Modest increase.

By: Daniel Cody

Daniel Cody — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:29:23 +0000

Bruno, Wisconsin’s cigarette tax per box ranks right about in the middle of the pack at 28th at $0.77.

Personally I don’t see any problem with raising it a modest amount, and I don’t think it’s quite the “tax smoke screen” that some, especially on the right, are making it out to be.

And Joe, you couldn’t be more correct about the sad state of the Wisconsin GOP right now. In fact, with Rick Wiley bailing his post as executive director of the Wisconsin GOP to work for Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential bid, their leadership is even thinner. I don’t know if him leaving actually hurts them or helps them though, considering how they’ve fared the past few years.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:29:05 +0000

The state’s GOP is in shambles, at best.
Mornic statements like this, Frank Lasee’s guns for teacher plan, Annette Ziegler ruling on a WalMart in Hartfod, when she owns almost $100,000 in WalMart stock, but refuses to recuse herself, yet hires Mark Graul to run her Supreme’s campaign, a guy who accepted Jack Ambramoff gifts and lost the elecetion for Mark Green…what are these people thinking?

Are the voting Republicans proud of this kind of record and party officials?

It’s no wonder they lost 06 and will likely loose even more in 2008.

By: Bruno Wolff III

Bruno Wolff III — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:30:18 +0000

I am not a fan of sin taxes. It’s one thing to try to recover costs for externalities for things that cause significant problems for society. But the taxes on cigarrettes are plenty high enough to cover that already. This is just fund raising that doesn’t piss off as many voters as a general tax increase would.