"g" <zekor@comcast.net> wrote in news:1169150924.209014.256320@a75g2000cwd.googlegroups.com: > I sort of like the way Gov. Rendell's proposition is going to improve > health care by taxing cigarettes more, and employers more, who don't > pay supliments for health care.. Pa. is getting close to 1 Billion $ in > cigarette tax revenue right now. Criminals on the other hand, love it. The cost of production of cigarettes is a tiny fraction of the retail price so any untaxed cigarettes they sell rake it in hand over fist. In Europe for instance the Italians Guardia Finanza spent a goodly portion of their time chasing cigarete smugglers. In this country you have cigarette sales on indian reservations supposedly beyond the jurisdiction and taxing authority of the state. Transnational reservations ( St Regis in upstate NY and Ontario ) are very difficult to police in this respect and smuggling was rampant some years ago. There are also idiots like Rob "Meathead" Reiner whose Prop 10 in CA was designed to use increased tobacco taxes to prime the pump on a number of new social programs. The danger there is that when and if the increased taxes manage to reduce the demand for cigarettes the new programs they funded will still be there and good luck cancelling them. IBM