Prohibition era media again

[goinbroke2]

I now can honestly say I fully understand the media blitz that must of went on during the prohibition era.

Front page on Saturdays paper, "ILLEGAL CIG'S ON THE RISE!!" The article went on about how if you were buying cig's in a baggie then you were a criminal because taxes weren't paid. Also, there was no government regulation so you don't know what dangerous substances could be in the cig's. If the person selling them was willing to sell illegal cig's they "almost guaranteed" have drugs for sale too. They sell to you but have no problem selling to underaged kids too, they are evil people and dangerous criminals. If you are buying cig's that taxes haven't been paid for then you are lining the pockets of underworld criminals and funding their drug/prostitution/other criminal activities. Any money going to them isn't going into the provinces tax system to help pay for schools/hospitals/roads/etc so it's YOUR fault the hospitals are underfunded etc.

Basically the EXACT ARGUMENT from the 30's!! I couldn't believe it. Once I read it twice, I REALLY noticed the glaring public "mindthink" they were spewing.

Any pack you buy should have a purple stripe on it, that means taxes were paid, but if the stripe is beige then they are tax exempt and you can only posses them if your have native indian status. If they are in a bag then your EVIL!!!!!

Of course they put a couple of quotes in from people they found said what they were looking for. One guy said "I have a mortgage and taxes and 3 kids eh? and I only make $40,000 a year and don't have any other vices. I enjoy smoking and I couldn't afford it if I had to pay regular price".
Or another, "I pay taxes on everything, so this doesn't really matter, they got enough taxes from me".
A bit of truth in the statements but not enough to sway public, just enough actually to make the average tax paying, non smoking person angry.

Now I see where the "moonshine kills" and "you are evading taxes your government needs with moonshine" comes from. It doesn't have to be honest or truthful, cause who is going to dispute it? Really! Who is going to stand up and say that they are seriously stretching the truth or outright lying?

It's not like I'm suprised or anything, it's just so blatently obvious how the media convinces/sways public perception. Nobody asks the obvious question of why in the last few years has cigrette smuggling become so profitable? Maybe the massive increase in taxes??? Kinda like prohibition eh? Make something unfairly taxed or illegal and you just made the moral/legal majority of tax payers into criminals.

Idiots, all of them!

And I don't smoke and never have. (ever)

[Godstilla]

I quit smoking quite a while ago. I noticed today a pack of Camel cigarettes was going for $6.05!!!! SIX OH FIVE A PACK?!?!?! If people can find cheaper illegal sources. Good on them!

[Ayay]

In this little community a recent tax hike on 'alcopops' (pre-mixed drinks in a can) was a miserable failure. The initial concern was teenagers getting pissed. Teenagers are not stupid and soon found out that you can mix your own at a much higher % and get even more pissed for less $$.

Prohibitionists in the form of the AMA and others always advise more tax = less consumption. Politicians willingly agree because they know that more tax = more tax.

It's a question of "punitive taxes" vs "regular taxes". If the taxes are punitive then there is much to be gained by defying them. Politicians are the last to find out because they have few alternatives other than getting off their backsides and looking at community issues rather than mouthing hot air or putting ink to paper.

[HookLine]

As I understand it, alco-pops were taxed differently from all other alcoholic drinks. The main reason they increased the tax on it was to make the tax rate the same as other alcoholic drinks. But they tried to sell it as a save-the-innocent-young-girls-from-themselves thing, which was a mistake.

[NukleusX]

Up here stateside my buddies who drink them types of drinks (I admit, I have drank a few here and there too) were all scared a few months ago as a supposed ban on the drinks was to take an effect in January. Couple were so afraid of the ban they stocked up on them.

Well in reality they did not ban the sale, they just pulled the energy mix out, and in effect, they are really no more than a pop + booze malt beverage. My friends who religiously drink the stuff say they notice the difference and are ticked off.

What makes me laugh about these certain friends, is in fact, they went from mixing their own drinks to these type... I dont understand why they cant go back... could it be some sort of addiction to the energy+booze drunk/high they get at the same time?

I dont get why they wont just get their favorite mixin liquor and an energy drink and just hush up about the whole thing already.

[Adverse Effects]

I quit smoking quite a while ago. I noticed today a pack of Camel cigarettes was going for $6.05!!!! SIX OH FIVE A PACK?!?!?! If people can find cheaper illegal sources. Good on them!

ummm hate to say it but here in OZ your looking at $17.00 to $19.00 a pack and every 6 months the tax% gos up 0.25% automatically

tell me that ant a tax / money grab

[stillvodka]

I quit smoking quite a while ago. I noticed today a pack of Camel cigarettes was going for $6.05!!!! SIX OH FIVE A PACK?!?!?! If people can find cheaper illegal sources. Good on them!

ummm hate to say it but here in OZ your looking at $17.00 to $19.00 a pack and every 6 months the tax% gos up 0.25% automatically

tell me that ant a tax / money grab

What is it you call a pack in OZ , is that 17 to $19 for pack a 20 cigarettes? £9 UK how on earth can you sustain paying that week in week out, I smoke but roll my own, much cheaper

[1fourme]

I quit smoking quite a while ago. I noticed today a pack of Camel cigarettes was going for $6.05!!!! SIX OH FIVE A PACK?!?!?! If people can find cheaper illegal sources. Good on them!

ummm hate to say it but here in OZ your looking at $17.00 to $19.00 a pack and every 6 months the tax% gos up 0.25% automatically

tell me that ant a tax / money grab

What is it you call a pack in OZ , is that 17 to $19 for pack a 20 cigarettes? £9 UK how on earth can you sustain paying that week in week out, I smoke but roll my own, much cheaper

I started growing my own tobacco, plants are about 12" tall and are ready to be planted in the garden...

[blanikdog]

I've just started growing my own too. I guess that make me a tax avoiding bastard as well, but most of the wealthy bastards out there pay a lot less tax than we do and that's cool cos they're wealthy and therefore 'special'. Good luck with your tobacco growing, I'm interested in you results.

blanik

[eternalfrost]

I hate cigarettes by love tobacco.
nothing better then sitting out in the summer with a nice pipe and friends and a drink.
hand-rolled cigerattes taste wayyy better then commercial too. I swear they must add something addictive to commercial cigarettes. I can smoke half a dozen rolled ones in a night of partying and feel fine the next morning. but if i have even one or two commercial ones i wake up feeling like hell and wanting more...

[rad14701]

I can't speak for other countries, but here in the US the whole tobacco market is a criminal enterprise in and of itself... They lobby the government to keep their enterprise alive, in the face of health concerns, and are even allowed to put additional nicotine and other chemicals into their product in an effort to make it more addictive... They add chemicals that allow the over-abundance of nicotine to get into the bloodstream quicker and the effects more short lived... Yet that other naturally grow weed is considered illegal even though it isn't chemically enhanced... I fail to see the logic... Umm... Yes, I do... MONEY...!!!

[Ayay]

Growing tobacco without a license in these parts is far more illegal than growing the green stuff. Tobacco growers have to submit to yield estimates and they have to meet those estimates otherwise they are sellin under the counter. They also have to store the product in super secure lock-ups similar to the opium growers. Yeah... hereabouts opium is a commercial crop as long as the cream is skimmed in the right direction!

[goose eye]

workin bright leaf use to get bacca sick. youd take a biscut with you an wrap in wax paper an keep in your pocket an it would taste like bacca when you ate it.when primein hands be so gummy use to grab a hand full of dirt an rub together to break it loose. your back hurt so bad primein sand lugs. use to top an then come behind suckerin it an huntin bacca worms. who ever got the most would get some dope. thatwas before dope come in a can an youd drink enuff down to put your penuts in it.
once it got to tall to plow youd have to chop it an it be so clean it look like a sidewalk.
now they runin primers an usein chemicals. wont no better smell than when bacca started curein.
ole boys can catch that scent an be took back in time. use to take burley lay a leaf pour some syrup
lay another leaf an so on an so forth. use to twist it like black mirah an cut up in plugs an keep in a ole pickle jug. any of yall ever seen a bacca seed. it smaller than collard seed

bootleggin has been switched over from likker to cigaretts since the 70s goin up north

so im tole