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Regardless of your political affiliation, it has to chafe you that a staggering percentage (the number is hotly debated, but it's somewhere between 40 and 50 percent) of "tax units" (single people or married couples) pay no taxes or receive a refund of 100% or more of tax they do pay.
That means that roughly 50% of eligible voters pay no tax, yet get a say in how the income of the other half gets spent.
Rather than just outlawing tobacco, slapping another tax on this non-necessity is another way to get into our wallets.
I own my own business. I pay tax on any money I have left over at the end of the year. I pay tax on the money I pay my employees. I pay "use" tax - every year - on stuff I already own. I pay property tax - every year - for the privilege of living in the home I bought with post-tax dollars. If I buy gas or tobacco, (I do buy the former, I don't the latter, but I digress), I pay a HUGE percentage in taxes. Finally, if I die and leave my money to someone else, it gets taxed yet again.
I am a patriot at heart, and I think the USA is a fantastic place to live. However, hearing that the "rich pay no taxes" makes me want to start swinging a tire iron.
The irony of paying a higher cigar tax is that money will now get burned up twice - once when you fire up your Ashton or Don Carlos, and again when the tax money gets frittered away on some social program you won't qualify for because your income is too high.
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