tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10143237.post4889679581374865214..comments2024-03-24T13:20:00.708-05:00Comments on Marathon Pundit: Illinois cigarette tax hike loomsMarathon Pundithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05994493157706065371noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10143237.post-6745036723493187592009-05-10T16:04:00.000-05:002009-05-10T16:04:00.000-05:00Oh, come on.
1) Colorado's legislature agreed...Oh, come on. <br />1) Colorado's legislature agreed less than a week ago to temporarily apply its 2.9% sales tax to cigarette sales. The governor hasn't even signed it into law yet, and even if he did the hike wouldn't go into effect until June 30. <br />Text of the bill is here: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2009a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/97CC28604CAC7B6E872575910055984B?Open&file=1342_rer.pdf<br />Legislative history here: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2009a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont/97CC28604CAC7B6E872575910055984B?Open&target=/clics/clics2009a/csl.nsf/billsummary/1081330E612B8DBC8725759100004EA3?opendocument<br />Newspaper article summarizing the current state of things: http://www.gazette.com/articles/tax-52927-cigarettes-sales.html<br /><br />2) Even if the state had hiked its cigarette tax last month, there's no way they'd know already that "tax revenues plummeted". Bean counters just don't move that fast. <br /><br />3) Even if they could, and even if they did, ALL tax revenues are plummeting right now-- including the Colorado income tax. <br /><br />When you just make stuff up, you give the internet a bad name. Why lie like this?<br /><br />Cigarette tax hikes are absolutely a dumb idea if the point is to raise revenue to pay for services, because fewer people are smoking and those who do are dying. Whether you're a "lefty" or a righty, almost any tax you can think of is going to be a more reliable revenue raiser than is the cig tax at this point. But you can support this argument without just making stuff up. <br /><br />So, "Matthew Mulligan", why are you making stuff up?Matt Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13635315247743456976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10143237.post-89672500383719147592009-05-01T08:31:00.000-05:002009-05-01T08:31:00.000-05:00Excellent!
Colorado raised it's cigaratte tax b...Excellent! <br /><br />Colorado raised it's cigaratte tax by one dollar last month. Tax revenues plummeted! Now the lefties that run the state are trying to find something else to tax.<br /><br />If the objective is to get people to quit smoking, this is a good method. If, as one suspects given the political makeup of Illinois, the objective is to raise revenue, this will be yet another Democrat disaster.<br /><br />Good luck out there!!Matthew Mulliganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11740442151426738192noreply@blogger.com