Taxes on Cigarettes
The article “Smoke Signals”, by the New York Times and the New Jersey Sunday edition, presented an overview of for the state of New Jersey’s recent decline in cigarettes bought in the last year. The article starts off by explaining to the reader how smokers took a financial beating at the cash register every time they went to a convenience store to buy cigarettes. In a smokers reduction movement the state of New Jersey doubled the sales tax on cigarettes forcing smokers to spend an extra forty cents on every pack they bought. Len Fishman, the state commissioner of Health and Senior services, stated that the tax increase was meant to drive down the consumption entirely. As Mr. Fishman traveled around the state he discovered that many people were already trying to quite smoking, they just never had the right physical motivation to pursue their goal. These people explained that the dramatic increase on tax was the finale straw that broke the camels back, and provided the right motivation for them to quite smoking. The tax increase put New Jersey behind only Hawaii and Alaska at $1 a pack, and Washington state at 82.5 cents a pack. Over a six month period the revenue collected from cigarette sales had dropped by 12 percent. For 1998 the revenue earned by cigarette sales should have been roughly 54.2 million cartons, but with the tax increase that number had been dropped to 47.4 million cartons. This gap represents a 6.8 million carton difference, an outstanding decrease in cigarette sales.
To all smokers the tax increase means a substantial amount of money will be necessary to maintain their habits. Some smokers will go through great lengths to save as much money as possible, even if it means traveling to other states to buy their smokes. Both Pennsylvania and Delaware reported a significant increase in cigarette sales over the next six months after the tax took affect. Over a one year period Delaware even had a ten percent increase, manly due to the tax increase in New Jersey. The state of Massachusetts raised their tax 25 cents a pack in 1992 and reported a 12.5 percent decrease in sales the following year.
Certainly a more alarming statistic is not necessarily how much the tax has decreased the sales of cigarettes, although very impressive and healthy, but rather the percent of under aged children and high school students who already smoke and who are beginning to smoke.
Wenger, Y. (2008, August 28). Tax: SC Cigarette Tax Increase . Retrieved May 17, 2014, from Smokers Club, Inc.: http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1994
population had been used to gain acceptance and awareness of cigarette smoking, it was time to
in only a few years time we will notice a drastic decline in the total
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
From the above few paragraphs, we are able to learn how young smokers can be affected by smoking cigarette especially young smokers that are legally allowed to smoke. Currently the age limit of smoking cigarette is starting to change from 18 to 21; according to the New York Times Needham, Mass.., Boston and New York, raised the smoking age to 21 (Hartocollis). States start to increase the age limit of smoking cigarette to 21 because they have realized they were using the wrong age limit for smoking cigarette. The united states spend a lot of money on health care concerning cigarette smoking, but if the age limit is raised to 21, The country might save millions of dollars.
One of the largest and most problematic health issues in our society is smoking. Smoking is currently the leading cause of death in our country, due to its harmful and addicting contents, such as nicotine and tobacco. Although millions die from it each year, smoking is the single most preventable cause of death as well. Without smoking, a tremendous amount of money and lives will be saved. I think that our country should ban smoking and the production of cigarettes in order to maintain a healthier nation, help save the environment, and prevent the almost 1000 deaths that they cause in fires each year.
Each year 440,000 people die, in the United States alone, from the effects of cigarette smoking (American Cancer Society, 2004). As discussed by Scheraga & Calfee (1996) as early as the 1950’s the U.S. government has utilized several methods to curb the incidence of smoking, from fear advertising to published health warnings. Kao & Tremblay (1988) and Tremblay & Tremblay (1995) agreed that these early interventions by the U.S. government were instrumental in the diminution of the national demand for cigarettes in the United States. In more recent years, state governments have joined in the battle against smoking by introducing antismoking regulations.
During the years before 2012, loyal Apple customers were in protest and petition when they found out that the labor conditions of Apple in Foxconn were unaccepted, the issue emerged to a worldwide attention. Also, the customers did not want to buy Apple products anymore because of the increasing number of accidents or suicidal in Foxconn. The employees were working in a dangerous environment and living in dorms that looked like a prison. These issues came to the attention that Apple decided to join Fair Labor Association, a monitoring group including at least 43 violations of Chinese Laws and regulations.
“These taxes are set high enough to finance the administration of new laws, but not so high that customers are driven back to the black market” (Frosch, 2013). There are many financial benefits that a state can help pay for the enforcement and other fundamental issues. One bad thing about taxing so high is that you can simply crowd out the regulated market.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The Victorian ‘Tobacco Act 1987) was the first broad tobacco legislation and aimed to reduce smoking prevalence. The Act states ‘A person must not sell a tobacco product to a person under the age of 18 years.” (Human Service Western Region Tobacco Project Report) As part of this Government intervention, penalties were introduced with the maximum penalty for breaching the provision being $1000 first offence, $2000 second offence and possible loss of tobacco license for subsequent offences. Tobacco sales make up a large percentage of convenience stores sales (Refer to 5.????) and this Government crackdown on cigarettes which has continued to be prevalent has in some respects increased cigarette sales. The state government has acknowledged and concluded “A Disproportionate number of cigarette sales to minors occurred at milkbars and service station convenience stores compared to supermarkets, newsagents, and tobacconists.)
This year alone cigarettes will kill over 420,000 Americans, and many more will suffer from cancers, and circulatory and respiratory system diseases. These horrible illnesses were known to come from cigarettes for years. Recently the Food and Drug Administration declared nicotine, the main chemical in cigarettes, addictive. This explains why smokers continue to use cigarettes even though smokers are aware of the constantly warned about health dangers in cigarettes. Some researchers have also found out that smoking by pregnant women causes the deaths of over 5,000 babies and 115,000 miscarriages. The only way to get rid of the suffering and loss of life by cigarettes is to ban them. . For years cigarettes have been known to cause cancer, emphysema, and other horrible illnesses. The deaths of over 420,000 of Americans this year will be do to cigarettes. With all the other causes of deaths, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still count for more deaths than those do combined. We can’t stand and watch people die because they smoke cigarettes. Thousands of smokers try to rid themselves of cigarettes but can't because of additive nicotine. Nicotine was recently declared addictive by the Food and Drug Administration, which explains why many smokers continue to smoke despite the health warnings on cigarette smoking. Nicotine makes it almost impossible for cigarette smokers to quit smoking because of its addictive nature, and with the cigarette manufacturers putting just enough nicotine in the so they cant be outlawed. The benefits of outlawing cigarettes greatly outnumber the disadvantages, for example, many scientists believe a link between smoking and a shortened life span exists between the two, a ban on cigarettes could increase life spans. Many studies suggest that billions of dollars now spent on smoking related. Smoking related illnesses could be reduced by outlawing cigarettes, families could save money by not purchasing cigarettes, and accidental fires costing millions of dollars caused by cigarettes would stop. Although a complete ban on cigarettes currently remains almost impossible, several organizations recently helped create a bill that could control cigarettes much in the same way the government now controls drugs. One such organization, the Food and Drug Administration, headed by David Kesslar drafted a major part, which would require manufacturers to disclose the 700 chemical additives in cigarettes, reduce the level of harmful chemicals, require cigarette companies to warn of the addictive nicotine, restrict tobacco advertising and promotion, and control the level of nicotine cigarettes contain.
Ninety percent of smokers begin before the age nineteen. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Thirty percent of teenagers that smoke continue to smoke and die early because of it. Studies have also show that the first time tobacco is introduced in one’s life is before graduation. (11 facts about teen smoking) Teen smoking is not only dangerous but is also very deadly. Over thirteen hundred people in the United States die a day because of smoking, so if we can decrease the amount of teen smoking would decrease those numbers dramatically. If we as people would help show those who smoke the cost of how much money they spend just in a month own cigarettes just that could change their mind. Many of the one is who smoke tend to have problems financially. We need to show them that cigarettes cost so much and could increase the amount of money they could have for themselves or for other things that they need at home or for some can help pay for their
Further investigations revealed that Foxconn had been guilty of unsafe and unfair working environments long before the incidents, which included the employment of extended working hours, discrimination, and military management techniques (Xu & Li, 2013). Due to Foxconn’s sole focus on maintaining businesses relationships by fulfilling Apple’s demand of technical products, their subsequent mistreatment of employees was exacerbated and generated 80-100 hours of forced overtime (Xu & Li, 2013). However, in an attempt to combat the negative publicity, each firm denied responsibility to the incidents, which ultimately added fuel to the media fire (Xu & Li, 2013). Since then, each firm has enacted superior regulations designed to maintain efficiency while recognizing limitations on labor hours and increased spending on compliance audits (Chandler & Werther, 2014). Yet, as Foxconn continues to sustain their global leadership and Apple’s profits remain unaffected, the disadvantages associated with the incidents at Foxconn have not transcended the outcomes. From a profit standpoint, the increase in spending and subsequent alterations of labor methods serve as the biggest disadvantage to each company’s
yet it is one of the most dangerous things you can do to yourself. Many people
The sale of cigarettes and tobacco is a multi-billion dollar industry, but is it truly worth all the problems that stem from their use. Health care costs are extremely high due to all the health problems associated with cigarettes and tobacco. Even though research has proven time and time again the harmful effects of cigarettes, and the rising cost of health care caused by cigarettes our government will not take a stand and stop all manufacturing of the horrible toxins.