Unemployment at record highs and what does he want to do...raise taxes on cigarettes and gasoline!
He called for altering Wisconsin's exemption for capital gains to pull in an additional $85 million and boosting the state's cigarette tax by 75 cents a pack to draw an additional $290 million over the biennium. That would push the state's tax to $2.52 a pack, which would be among the highest in the nation. With the new federal tax figured in, smokers would now pay $3.53 in taxes a pack.
This was copied from a article in the Wiscpolitics.com.
I’m sure many non-smokers applaud this tax increase and think it is great that the government wants to “stick it to those nasty smokers”.
Do you think the same people will applaud the increase in criminal activity, which is brought about by increasing taxes? They should because it’s bound to happen.
The following has been copied from Cato.org, Cigarette Taxes, Black Markets, and Crime: Lessons from New York’s 50-Year Losing Battle.
Thanks to recent city- and state-level tax hikes, New York City now has the highest cigarette taxes in the country—a combined state and local tax rate of $3.00 per pack. Consumers have responded by turning to the city's bustling black market and other low-tax sources of cigarettes. During the four months following the recent tax hikes, sales of taxed cigarettes in the city fell by more than 50 percent compared to the same period the prior year.
New York has a long history of cigarette tax evasion. Former governor Malcolm Wilson dubbed the city the "promised land for cigarette bootleggers." Over the decades, a series of studies by federal, state, and city officials has found that high taxes have created a thriving illegal market for cigarettes in the city. That market has diverted billions of dollars from legitimate businesses and governments to criminals.
Cigarette tax targets a select group of people, so it is time to start taxing other select group. The state should add a $5.00 tax per round of golf and a $1.00 per game tax on bowling. Softball is huge in the state of Wisconsin, a $50.00 per team tax should be added when teams resister in a league.
I am sure there are many other select groups out there just willing to pay an increased tax on their activities.
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The road between NYC and North Carolina may as well be dubbed the Marlboro parade. It's a short drive from here to Indiana and Kentucky. Did they not learn from Prohibition?
BTW, Can I borrow the Irregular bus?
The bus is not booked, no problem AA. There is a significant usage tax, however, you must pay first....
I drive down 31 to a Walgreens in Illinois to get cheaper smokes. Once a week and it takes about 1 hr and small mileage. Will continue to do so.
It's going to get to the point that the fine for smoking a joint is going to be cheaper than the tax on a pack of smokes.
I was just gonna ask about Illinois cig taxes. Now more people will make a run for the border. I used to drive to the AutoZone in Zion for automotive air conditioning refrigerant. It's illegal to sell it to do-it-yourselfers in Wisconsin because another lobby has greased the legislature/governor here. That always reminded me of my parents driving there for "oleo" (margarine) when it was illegal to sell that in Wisconsin.
Btw, the first referenced article has Doyle saying, "Everyone is going to have to share in the sacrifice." I would love to see a detailed list of what "sacrifices" Mr. Doyle and our legislators have personally made because of current economic conditions.
Well there goes my 13 buck from Obama!
Diamond Jim should have got more money out of the indian tribes for the casinos.
I have been driving to the cig outlet on Hwy 41 since the last tax increase. Even if I get caught, I will continue to do so due to Doyle's non-sensical tax increases. How the hell this fucker continues to get re-elected is beyond me. The most harmful smoke in WI is the shit he's blowing up our asses.
AA...
I think we should take the bus and drive to Tenn, where they are real cheap. We could still pay KK's useage tax and still make a bundle!
SER, I'm good with that, we can take over Kentucky on the way there.
WOOO HOOOO!!! LogJam, you nailed it. "It's going to get to the point that the fine for smoking a joint is going to be cheaper than the tax on a pack of smokes"
Cheap fines for indulging mother nature. I got it. Now see, Weed can be grown for the same price as tobacco. It is a beneficial plant to it's environment, unlike tobacco plants too. Not only that, but you get oil from the seeds, flax for clothing, replenishable source for paper pulp (and far superior at it than wood), and a way to "employ" a whole slew of folks for the "new" industry.
The cost of producing Pot could be brought down to the cost of producing a pack of smokes. BUT the TAXES could be huge. People are paying oh say... $50 for a mere quarter ounce now (I heard through the grapevine). You produce five joints in a pack, sell it for $5 then add $60 in tax, and you got a money maker.
To cut public expenses even more, you free all the poor schmucks that are sitting in jail for possesion of weed. So what if Cig taxes are $3 or more. With a $60 tax on five joints, we'd be sitting with a SURPLUS.
Reefernomics.
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