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No One is Paying My Way

 

             As a smoker, Freeman's article "Fat Smokers Save You Money" struck a nerve with me. I too have been irritated by the argument that the government has a right to interfere with my personal choice to smoke because I somehow "cost everyone else money". BOLOGNA! For every pack of cigarettes that I buy I pay an excise tax of $0.17, 4.23% sales tax and any local taxes that may apply, depending on where I purchase them. I pay nearly $80.00 per year in excise taxes alone. Now considering that I've been doing so for 15 years, that's approximately $1,200 so far. I have yet to receive any medical treatment paid for by anyone other than myself, and none for smoking related illnesses. My smoking habit has yet to cost ANYONE but me ANYTHING. Can the non-smoking speedsters that have caused my car insurance to go up say the same thing? .
             In 2002, the State of Missouri collected $94,890,000 in excise taxes. That's more than it cost to cover the cost of all Missouri public school transportation ($162 million) and special education ($149.1 million). Forty five states have even higher taxes. The federal government collected $7,512,700,000 in excise taxes in 2002. I believe we smokers have more than paid for the possibility that we may need help paying for medical treatments due to our smoking habit. The fact of the matter is, if you run the numbers, we pay FAR more into the system than we get back. From an economical standpoint, we smokers should not be criticized, we should be recognized for our contribution to "the system" and patted on the back.


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