Comments about ‘Legislature can clear air with tobacco tax hike’

So since you happen to know EVERYTHING! Where is the state going to come up with the revenue after the local businesses have to close their doors and the tax $$$ is gone?

We found a way to get around the ever increasing cigarette tax hike using a much safer alternative. It can be used anywhere because there’s no second hand smoke, only a harmless water vapor that looks smoke. It costs 75% less than tobacco cigarettes and is much healthier. No carbon monoxide, tar, smoke, ash or any of the 4000 harmful toxins found in traditional cigarettes. They come in different strengths of nicotine so if you want to wean yourself down you can or they come without nicotine at all. My husband smoked for 25 years and hasn't touched a tobacco cigarette once since starting these. Here are a couple of good places where we bought ours: eCigBiz.com & Smoke-Tip.com - The prices vary greatly. Both offer a money back guarantee and one with a lifetime warranty. Hope this helps! :)

I must admit that the doctor makes a good argument. Still, similar (though maybe not quite as convincing) logic could be used by one group or another against all kinds of legal products. If tobacco is as bad as the doctor claims (and it is), then have the courage to ban it outright. But otherwise it’s an improper use of government to target for a tax increase a legal-but-socially-out-of-favor product.

The tax hike is discriminatory against smokers thus illegal.

How about a "vice" tax on *all* products that are known to cause health problems? Candy and soda pop for example. Child obesity is a problem. More people consume junk food than smoke. Implementing a vice tax would for sure generate much more revenue for the state and would ensure that just about everyone pays taxes for things that contribute to the ill health of citizens.

Typical doc towing the extreme anti-smoking viewpoint. Either you should argue for a complete ban on the sales of all tobacco products, or NOT have written this article in the first place.

As valid as some of your points on tobacco are, why not be honest and increase taxes on ALL people that are doing something other than using tobacco to hurt their health and increasing health care costs, beyond just selfishly targeting smokers? Bad enough that so many state and federal tobacco tax increases I read about exclude cigars and/or pipe tobacco! The federal SCHIP increase a year ago excluded pipe tobacco, for example.

If all the money we have donated to the American Cancer Society for cancer research had been used for cancer research, instead of for persecuting smokers, we would have had a cure for cancer by now.

And after we tackle this tobacco-thingy we'll go after woodstove and fireplace bans and draconian taxation....see, we never stop. You must comply to all our demands, we went to school for this and know how to ban and tax - it's what we do. Thank you for not looking into this any further and have a nice day.