The Vermont House of Representatives passed S.18 – An act relating to banning flavored tobacco products and e-liquids. The roll call vote was 83-53, with a handful of Democrats and Progressives joining all but one Republican in opposing the measure.
Articles tagged as
Tobacco
For the Children: Ban Flavored Tobacco, but Not Flavored Pot, Legalize Drug Dens (No Age Limits)
If you want to know why Vermont is in such terrible shape on so many fronts, it is because the people we have elected to make important decisions for us are totally unmoored from any rational approach to problem-solving. They are devoid of any guiding principle, barring an intense desire to get their hands on our money and spend it as they see fit, which is usually not in a fit way.
Mass Flavored Cigarette Ban Continues to Flood NH With New Revenue
On June 1st of 2020, the busy-bodies in the Bay State banned menthol-flavored cigarettes. Here in the Granite State, we said thank you. Before summer was over, NH had added over 16 million in new revenue as a result. The latest figures push that to over 28 million in six months.
Massachusetts Banned the Sale of Flavored Tobacco in June. What Happened Next Was… Totally Predictable
Massachusetts’ June 1 ban on the sale of flavored cigarettes is driving higher sales, and higher tax revenue, in New Hampshire, state and retailer data show.
Quick Thought: Dr. Seth Emont – such a courageous display of non-conviction
The end of his Op-Ed in the Union Leader caught more of my attention than the dribble he had IN the Op-Ed (emphasis mine): Dr. Seth Emont lives in Walpole, manages the Tobacco Cessation Program at Cheshire Medical Center and leads the Cheshire Coalition for Tobacco Free Communities. The beginning was “Time to protect children … Read more
Democrat Senate President Donna Soucy is Now a Tobacco Company Stooge?
Democrats are curious creatures. Remember when cigarette taxes couldn’t be lowered because we had to have that revenue? Crisis! Economic collapse! Well, this week Democrats are giving up tobacco revenue to make smoking illegal.
New Hampshire Used the State Budget to Raise the Smoking Age to 19
I’m not a fan of legislative leaders hiding unrelated legislation in a budget. It’s a trick. Budgets will get passed eventually. Stuffing changes that failed to pass in the House or Senate needs to stop. So, how about one that was never a bill at all?
NH Democrats Use State Budget to Raise Legal Age to Buy Tobacco in NH to 21
I can’t even recall how much garbage the Democrats in the legislature have crammed into the budget – that has nothing to do with a budget. But I guess it wasn’t enough.
Massachusetts Bill Would Drive Even More Retail Traffic to New Hampshire
Massachusetts is considering a statewide tax on sugary drinks. We’ve covered these taxes in Philadelphia and Seattle. They’ve been a boon to jobs and businesses outside their borders. We’ve no reason to think the same won’t be true for New Hampshire if the Bay State buys in on it too.
Keene, NH Poised to Ban Sale or Possession of Nicotine By Anyone Under the Age of 21
The dreary drama of nicotine shaming has been on tap all summer in Keene, New Hampshire. But the show appears to have reached its third and final act. In late October the city published the draft ordinance banning the “Purchase, Use, and Possession of Tobacco Products.”
The NH Democrat’s Dishonesty About Tobacco
On 6-6-12 I provided an update on the state of tobacco tax revenue in New Hampshire. Buried in that post were some observations about how hypocritical and dishonest Democrats in the Granite state are about tobacco and their obsession with taxing it. A hypocrisy they themselves may not even grasp. So I wanted to excerpt that portion separately with a few minor edits. Here it is.
Democrats complained publicly and often about lower tobacco revenue after the tax was first lowered. But isn’t that the point of the tax? To lower consumption and therefore revenue? To end a practice many in government, and more so in the nanny wing, argue adds to the long term cost borne by the public? Is that not the goal? To make smoking history?
And we know that raising the tax reduces consumption, and lowers traffic into New Hampshire to buy tobacco (and anything else) because we’ve seen it happen. So less tobacco revenue always had to be the goal for Democrats if they are being even remotely honest about it. This means that at some point New Hampshire was going to have to look someplace else for that revenue–or were NH Democrats planning on increasing the tax per pack on the last smoker to $30 million (or whatever it is) to make up for everyone else who had quit at their urging?
Do you see how stupid that logic is?
“Oh Crap” Sayeth the NH Left, Tobacco Revenue Over Projection….Again.
Nothing makes me smile like watching another left wing New Hampshire Democrat narrative go up in smoke. Which narrative, you ask, there are so many to choose from? Why, the one about how irresponsible it was to cut the tobacco tax and how it would never stimulate enough other forms of cross border commerce to make up the difference. A notion that is not just backwards, it runs counter to the entire concept of the New Hampshire advantage.
So right out of the gate, the Democrats had no where to run on this issue–not that they didn’t try–and now things are looking bad for their tobacco tax narrative.
Smokes and Mirrors – What’s Up With Tobacco Taxes?
All across the the Granite State Democrats have gathered in their secret underground lairs. The unthinkable has happened. Tobacco revenues were up last month. (Audible Gasp!). That’s right. Revenues beat estimates.
This is, of course, a double edged sword for the liberal left. When their grotesque estimates (overall) were forever coming in under target, how many times did they say, “it’s just one month, wait and see. Give it time, they’ll come around. We’re not that far off.” No such quarter for Republicans. ( Typical hypocrats.) At the ugly end of the 2007 to 2010 Democrat “experiment” they were off by about a billion dollars which might suggest they have no clue what they are doing.
But when the Republican’s estimated revenues for their budget the Democrats cried and whined anyway as if they were suddenly experts; the religious left even gathered to pray for more spending. I’m not kidding. They prayed for more spending. The left claimed repeatedly that Republican estimates were purposefully low to punish people. That is what the left said.
But the overall estimates are close. Very close. This means the Democrats were wrong about Republicans underestimating revenue on purpose, which means they were themselves wrong about estimates again (no surprise there). With revenue nearly in line with spending, bitching about it makes them look petty and just reminds everyone what wretched stewards they were of our tax dollars.
So left hanging without an economic axe to grind they have bet their rhetorical money on the cigarette tax cut. But they may have lost that bet as well.