See Kids, Smoking Can Be Good For You, At Least If You're a Homeowner

It's getting pretty damn difficult to be a smoker these days. First the city kicks us out of our beloved bars to enjoy our filthy habit, now the state is grabbing into our back pocket without even the courtesy of a reach around. Self--righteous jerk-offs. As Bill Hicks once said, "I'd quit smokin if I didn't think I'd become one of them."

The legislature finally passed bills to finance the state's schools. The legislation will increase school funding by a whopping 4%, raise the price of cigarettes by $1 a pack, and keep the Supreme Court from pulling the finance, while giving most of the new smokers' cash to homeowners in the form of a tax cut.

Disingenuous alert:

"When it comes to the schoolchildren and the taxpayers of Texas, we had an opportunity to do what's right, and we chose to do it," said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

Yea, and it only took about, oh, three years! God bless you, state legislature. What bold thinking. You're the heroes.

The new legislation, once it is approved by the courts and signed by the official hair model of Texas, will end a slew of lawsuits brought against the state by school districts.

And, of course, legislatures found a way to help out big business along the way.

[from the Statesman]

Capital-intensive industries such as oil and gas companies, manufacturers and utilities stand to benefit most among businesses from the tax plan, largely because of the high property taxes they've been paying; service providers that have not paid franchise taxes previously, such as many lawyers, doctors and architects, could see a tax increase.
Homeowners will see a one-third cut in the property tax rates set for school operations over the next two years.

The owner of a $100,000 home will see an annual savings of about $145 starting this fall and $425 in fall 2007, but those savings could decrease if school boards inch their tax rates back up.

Some say the Legislature focused too much on tax cuts and not enough on schools.

"If I were a big business, I'd be jumping for joy," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "If I'm a child in school, I'm wondering, 'What about me?' "

*Image (c) Dan Taylor on Flickr*

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By matthewodam in News on May 16, 2006 10:03 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

lou

It won't end the lawsuits. They'll start again. The Court said that the schools were "drifting toward constitutional inadequacy." Making all schools start on the same day in late August, giving teachers a 2K bump, and requiring all seniors to take math and science doesn't, probably, stop that drift. The lawsuits will start within the next 18 months. Tops.

deb

truecraig has an excellent point. but get this: where i'm from we do this crazy thing called income tax. basically (in theory at least), the more money a person makes, the more tax they pay. and a portion of that money actually goes to public schools.

truecraig

Go ahead and increase the tax cigarettes. Triple the booze tax. 10x the tax on Dolly of Parton cassingles. Make a new "bullet tax" of $500 per bullet (plus one in the left thigh). Tax shiny things more than dull things, and put anyone in jail who wears fake nails on Saturdays.

I'm not so sure that charging the spread on cancer to give teachers a raise and homeowners a tax break follows a healthy spirit in civil government.

After all, this puts teachers and homeowners in the ethically awkward position of hoping people smoke more.

adam rice

When will we be getting black market gasoline? And... no one's getting anything smuggly from Mexico now that Bushy's prepped the invasion force. Now we can finally get low cost 'scrips. Huzzah!

spyglass

It will be interesting to see how much of a black market for cigarettes develops in Texas as a result of this tax increase. Certainly cigarette sales over the Internet will increase substantially, but it will be more interesting to see how much smuggling increases over the Mexican border. Based on what I've read of studies on cigarettes smuggling, I think we will see an explosion of black market cigarettes.

It seems some people will never understand the lessons of Prohibition.

odam

litter bug.

ok.

anon

Better yet. If you want to quit, just do so. It only takes a little will power. I smoked for almost 12 years, up to two packs of Camel non-filters a day. One day I just threw one out the car window and said I quit. No problems since. Hell, I can even smoke when I'm really drunk and never have the urge to go buy a pack in the morning (it almost works as aversion therapy). Self control and will power is something a lot of lazy people lack in this country.

As for the taxing of cigs, if you don't like it. Stop and don't buy them, then they will have to find another way to pay for this and you'll get your point across. People always talk about sacrafice for their causes.

adam rice

I'm talking younger: like 8 to 13 range. We need these babes hooked well before 18. The same strategy is keeping big T afloat in South America.

Um, actually I quit smoking a while ago. This is for reals, if you smoke read this book: Allen Carr's Stop Smoking the Easy Way. He wants you to smoke while you read it and it's easy. He brainwashes you, but you'll live longer. Hey, it worked for me.

Lisa

Adam: 90 percent of smokers start at or before the age of 18 and nearly a quarter of high school students smoke (a slightly higher percentage than adults who smoke). So I think the kids are doing their part.

If you want to complain about the price of cigs, take it to the tobacco companies. Cigarettes cost pennies to manufacture; the profit margin is huge.

Match Striker

Why wasn't Match Striker's picture used for this post? Oh, you couldn't find a pic of Match with cigarette in tow? I think not. I am contacting my attorney and realtor.

adam rice

Smokers are forever getting screwed. White guys in suits prevail! Hoo-ray. Why not get the Big T to pay for schools themselves? That wouldn't make sense. Instead let's just gouge people who are addicted to an unnecessary product that we convinced them they can't live without...

What smokers should do: quit smoking, buy a carton, head down to the school yard, get the little nippers puffin', and let THEIR addiction pay for the social security/medicaid that won't exist when we need lung-ecthomies. That's so logical it's Supertramp.