How to Meet Budgets?

[HerefordSire]

What if we figure out a way to tax citizens that are addicted?

Now let me see which products we can tax....how about bibles? Nah...let me think for awhile...reading literature? Nah.....television? Nah...people can quit that too easy....I will figure this out....what products hurt people? electricity from coal? nah...nuclear energy? nah.....

We need some product targeted toward poor people....let me see....lottery tickets? nah.......

I got it....Big Macs? nah.......food? unhealthy food? nah.....something people are addicted to...like a drug....where the poor people won't have a choice but to steal or pay extra taxes....

I need help in figuring this out....what can we force our addicted poor citizens to help meet out bailout spending budgets?

Please help me figure this out! We just need one product to tax...I promise...it will end here...no other products will ever be taxed....

 

[ga. prime]

You need HEP.

 

[HerefordSire]

Is it addictive like coffee? What about coffee? nah...

 

[HerefordSire]

How about tap water...that is addictive right? Do poor people drink more water than average? nah...

I got it....tax people without a job when they get hired....they could finance it... nah....

We should be creative here....it has to be a product poor people are forced to pay....tooth paste? nah.... how about toilet paper? nah....

Can we tax asbestos products? How about all the poor people renting asbestos homes? nah....ceiling fans? nah...fans? people that don't have air conditioning? nah...

 

[Jogeephus]

I would say tobacco but raising the taxes from $50/lb to $150/lb would only put about $150,000,000,000 into our gov't coffers which would hardly fund Pelosi for a day. Besides that, most people who use tobacco make less than $250,000 a year and our president promised that no one making less than this amount would have to pay more taxes. So unless you want to make him out to be a liar, I don't think we should do this. Otherwise, people might begin to believe there is little to no difference in the two parties.

 

[lakeportfarms]

I say tabloid newspaper/magazines like the Enquirer, Star, etc...

 

[larryshoat]

Naturaly I'm for taxing anything that I don't use, but as Margaret Thatcher said "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of everybody else"s money" ( that's paraphrase, I don't have the exact quote) .

Larry

 

[Keren]

lol I must have Harry Potter on the brain because I read the title of this thread as "How to meet bludgers"

 

[angie1]

lol I must have Harry Potter on the brain because I read the title of this thread as "How to meet bludgers"

I habve no idea who/what a bludger is, but it is safe to say I'd as soon meet one of them than a budget. Never met a budget that I liked.....

 

[Lammie]

Must admit I backslid and started again while I have been doing the whole Mom and Dad thing. With cigs at over six a pack, I quit again. I have not had a cig since Friday after school when I smoked the last one.

I no longer smoke. That is what I say when I get the urge. I don't smoke, so I can't want to smoke. I am a non smoker.

So far so good. Too expesive to smoke. Yet I figure it is those that can afford to smoke the least who continue to smoke. You have to have something to do.

 

[CKC1586]

Must admit I backslid and started again while I have been doing the whole Mom and Dad thing. With cigs at over six a pack, I quit again. I have not had a cig since Friday after school when I smoked the last one.

I no longer smoke. That is what I say when I get the urge. I don't smoke, so I can't want to smoke. I am a non smoker.

So far so good. Too expesive to smoke. Yet I figure it is those that can afford to smoke the least who continue to smoke. You have to have something to do.

Hang in there Lammie, I quit the middle of Sept after having started again after a 20 year period. I too went back at it while dealing with my Dad and his demise. You can do it. I still want one but won't let myself fall again....

 

[VanC]

Speaking of taxes, I think its time we explore the possibility of a flat tax again.

Question: " I understand that Congress is considering a so-called 'flat' tax system. How would this work?" Answer: "If Congress were to pass a 'flat' tax, you'd simply pay a fixed percentage of your income, and you wouldn't have to fill out any complicated forms, and there would be no loopholes for politically connected groups, and normal people would actually understand the tax laws, and giant talking broccoli stalks would come around and mow your lawn for free, because Congress is NOT going to pass a flat tax, you pathetic fool." ~Dave Barry

Never mind.

 

[grannysoo]

A consumption tax on all products. When you do this, you will bring the underground economy into the tax system. The underground economy is probably as large as the regular economy.

I saw the other day where the #1 cash crop in California was marijuana. A consumption tax would get the tax money when those dollars were spent.

However, if you don't want to do this and only tax one item: tax television viewing. :lol2:

 

[HerefordSire]

I would say tobacco but raising the taxes from $50/lb to $150/lb would only put about $150,000,000,000 into our gov't coffers which would hardly fund Pelosi for a day. Besides that, most people who use tobacco make less than $250,000 a year and our president promised that no one making less than this amount would have to pay more taxes. So unless you want to make him out to be a liar, I don't think we should do this. Otherwise, people might begin to believe there is little to no difference in the two parties.

The number I am hearing is $33B not $150B (per year?). The additional tobacco tax is targeted for childrens health care, supposedly. Pretty good strategy to get the bill passed. This is a great example of a hidden tax targeting poor people for a good cause. If we look close, there are several taxes that are becoming hidden. This way, the election speeches that pertain to income taxes may be honored. I have the opinion when you take tobacco products out of an affordable range for poor people that use this addictive product, there will be a multitude of prisons built to handle the masses entering the system or many will be releaseed early. Do not be surprised to see strings of murders are we are sseing in the last couple of months. Many blame the issue to lack of employment, but I blame it on lack of tobacco, because the prices are now out of range for poor people. You will not hear this on CNN. These side effects are not accounted for when preparing bill passage. I have not heard anyone linking all the recent murders to tobacco yet. Only job losses. Now you have heard it, from me. Now, I understand the ordinary reply....the killer is insane, etc.....I have heard all the replies.

 

[Jogeephus]

I don't know how they figure that. Seems awefully low if you look at the numbers. I had just figured it in my head using some rough figures but I wasn't in my think tank. However, I went to my think tank and sat down and smoked it over using a little sharper mind and here is how I figure it.

The terrible big carbon foot-printed farmer in the US produces tobacco and jobs for the industry. The industry uses 1.6 billion pounds of domestic tobacco per year and inports nearly a quarter billion pounds. This creates lots of private industry jobs - which as we all know is a bad thing due to environmental reasons. This greedy farmer is rolling in money since he gets to pocket about $2.40/lb. or $0.04/pack. Of course, he has to hire lots of help and buy lots of equipment, fertilizer and fuel to produce such a windfall profit - but I'm sure his banker gives him a break every chance they get. Since it takes about 1.9 lbs of tobacco to make a 1000 cigarettes this works out to roughly 2.63 cartons per pound of tobacco. Or roughly, 53 packs per pound.

Placing a $0.62 a pack fed sales tax on top of the existing $0.39/ pack sales tax would equal $1.01 /pack. But you also get to add the new state tax which is going to be $1.00/pack which should bring the total near $2.01/pack. Things get a bit muddy here and but there is also a state $0.255 /pack sin tax on the federal taxes or maybe this could also be assessed on the combined excise taxes which would add another $0.50 per pack which brings the total to $2.51/pack. But then the county can add their own excise tax if they choose. On top of this add the sales tax of say 7% which brings the taxes on a pack to around $2.73/pack which is a pretty good return for your investment. ($144/lb taxes)

Since I don't have the figures on hand, I'm just going to guess that about half of this stays here and is used for cigarettes. If this is the case then there should be about $144 billion for us to fund our pet projects and such. So undoubtedly, if the 30 billion figure is correct we must only use 10% of our crop and export the rest. With 90% export market this again is a reason we should definitely crack down on it. Afterall, just think of how bad we must be polluting the oceans. Maybe this is just the money ear-marked for the children's health programs this is supposed to fund and the rest of it will go to dolphin research and woodpecker relocation programs. You know, the important stuff. Don't know. Don't really care. What is important is that we build a larger government. I think this whole idea is utterly fantastic. I mean, when we crimminalize tobacco users while at the same time decrimminalizing the use of marijuana it will only be a matter of time before we can employ the same system on weed. Fantastic idea. I guess the tax on the weed could go to subsidize all the jailers this will put out of business and maybe be serve as the seed money for a new Homeland Ecological Defense Agency.

HS, per your request, attached is a picture of my 'think tank design'.

 

[Lammie]

Question, and forgive me because I really don't know.

Is it legal to grow your own tobacco? I know it is probably harder than anyone anticipates, but in theory, can you legally do it? I've never seen anything saying you can't.

That other crop, now, is illegal to grow, but if it became legalized, would you then be able to grow your own?

Not leading anywhere, just curious.

 

[john250]

Question, and forgive me because I really don't know.

Is it legal to grow your own tobacco? I know it is probably harder than anyone anticipates, but in theory, can you legally do it? I've never seen anything saying you can't.

That other crop, now, is illegal to grow, but if it became legalized, would you then be able to grow your own?

Not leading anywhere, just curious.

Sure, you can grow all the tobacco you want. Just a caution, however. Home grown is pretty rough compared to blended cigarettes.

 

[Lammie]

Question, and forgive me because I really don't know.

Is it legal to grow your own tobacco? I know it is probably harder than anyone anticipates, but in theory, can you legally do it? I've never seen anything saying you can't.

That other crop, now, is illegal to grow, but if it became legalized, would you then be able to grow your own?

Not leading anywhere, just curious.

Sure, you can grow all the tobacco you want. Just a caution, however. Home grown is pretty rough compared to blended cigarettes.

I had no idea. I have never even seen tobacco growing, so I don't know a blamed thing about it.

 

[curtis]

My dad used to raise his own tobacco , he smoked it in a pipe and made his own chewing tobacco using peach and apple juice for flavor. He would jack up one corner of the house and use for a press.
Back then i was a heavy smoker but i could never handle his. If that's all i had i would have quit smoking then. Never did chew or dip, Nasty.
He got the seeds from my sister in east TN.

 

[john250]

Here 'ya go Lammie.