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Posted on 05/22/2012 6:26:30 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
ANNAPOLIS — Maryland health advocates are celebrating an upcoming tax increase on cigars and smokeless tobacco, but they aren’t stopping there.
Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, is expected to sign a bill Tuesday that will raise the state’s tax on non-cigarette tobacco products for the first time since 1999, in an effort to combat what state health officials say is increased use of the products among teens.
The measure is part of $260 million in tax increases that were approved during last week’s special session and will be signed into law Tuesday. About $247 million of the increases will come from an income-tax hike on the top 14 percent of earners in the state.
Efforts to raise the tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco were spearheaded by health lobbyist Vincent DeMarco, who said his next goal is to increase the state’s $2-a-pack cigarette tax to $3 and that he hopes to get it done as soon as next year.
“We are going to save thousands of young people from addiction to these products,” said Mr. DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative. “We are thrilled. This will be a great public health victory for the people of Maryland.”
The bill will raise the current 15 percent tax on most cigars and smokeless tobacco products, known collectively as other tobacco products (OTP).
Starting July 1, smokeless products like chewing tobacco and snuff will be subject to a 30 percent tax.
The tax on small cigars - also known as cigarillos - will rise to 70 percent. Health advocates say cigarillos have become a popular choice among teens as a result of their low cost compared with cigarettes and because of their exotic flavors, such as cherry and vanilla.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The founders were wise. This is why states are free to make there own decisions. People will vote with their feet. MD will wither and die.
Also, the reason the “yuuts” are buying small cigars is to hollow them out and fill them back up with weed. The cigar covers up the smell. Next time you enter a urban convenience store notice all the tobacco lying around outside...
“weed”
Just to finish that thought. The pols know this. This is the way they are trying to tax illegal drug use. This isn’t to save the yuuts, it’s to get in on some of that pusher dough. If you can’t beat them join them. Can’t arrest the little darlings for such a minor thing as drug use. That would be Raaacist. Nope. Besides, marijuana doesn’t make you violent.
Marylanders - head West to Bethleham, PA and stock up at Cigars International. Great selection, great prices. Stock your humidor with great sticks and deny the libs your hard earned dollars.
I am doing that for my big buys, but at the same time I will patronize my local stores just to not totally penalize them. They actually have worked hard to try and stop these f*cks who happen to govern us.
There; fixed it.
In the part of Virginia I live, the Maryland line is 8 miles away.
Delaware is 30 min from the Eastern Shore and has NO Sales Tax (and is generally cheaper).
So, ol’ Vinnie DeMarco jumped off the anti-gun (Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, aka MAHA) gravy train when the checks stopped coming in; and now he’s jumped onto the anti-smoking gravy train. He was an a-hole then, and appears to still be an a-hole. Anything to control you. For a buck, of course.
The only time Delaware’s “no sales tax” claim really comes into play is on big ticket items and at the dollar stores. I know, I lived in Delaware More than 20 years before moving to Virginia.
Shopping in Delaware is more expensive, I see it daily in my shopping. I was at my SIL’s in Diver a short while back and we ran out of butter, so I made a run to the local Food Lion to grab a pound. The day before that I had bought butter in my local Food Lion here in Virginia - mine was 40cents cheaper, even after adding in the sales tax, than what I paid in Dover.
As for distance, as I said, I am 8 miles from the Maryland line, and I’m on the Eastern Shore just an hour south of Delaware. Between my house and the Maryland line there are 8 tobacco outlets and numerous convenience stores that all sell tobacco products.
Sieg Hiel Comrad.
With the current level of purging, I am really surprised you are still around. How does anyone that FAILS to engage their intellect allowed to hang around FR?
Civilization cannot survive with twelve-year-olds having babies, fifteen-year-olds shooting one another, seventeen-year-olds dying of AIDS, and eighteen-year-olds graduating with diplomas they cannot read.
Either you have a reading comprehension issue or you are purposefly obtuse. Either way I am surprised you have survived the the current purging of the intellectual lightweights.
Good news: Jesus still loves you
Bad news: Limited government conservatives on FR still think you’re an asshole
Virginia is ALSO on the Eastern Shore, abuts Maryland, and a carton of cigarettes, including sales tax, is $11 cheaper than in Delaware.
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