Prohibition Regression In Economic Recession

Is the so called sin tax leading us back into the Prohibition era? The Price of tobacco has risen $1.00 a pack or $10.00 a carton. A of bottle of beer at a major concert event could run you $4.50 - $6.00. The drink tax has been debated numerous times with a proposed 10% increase. FACT ~ Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation, an organization against the drink tax wants to lower the tax to 0.5%. The drink tax last month in Allegheny county was 7%. Drinking and smoking may become a luxury of the rich. Are we not being taxed and governed to death? Will smoking and drinking eventually become illegal, and they're intending to raise taxes even more?

Congress proposes to raise 65 billion dollars within 10 years to fund coverage for uninsured children. The drink tax is funding mass transit here. Officials complain that hundreds of thousands of smokers die prematurely from smoking. Then why don't they put the extra tax into heathcare costs and smoking cessation programs for the SMOKERS? How about funding for lung cancer, or lung cancer prevention? Uninsured children are a problem, but why should smokers pick up the tab! The righteous must stand for something, and more often prey on the faults and sins of others! Smokers must dig deeper in an already slagging economy, or quit cold turkey. For the small tobacco retailers, business will get worse and theives could be on the rampage like back in the prohibition days. Folks forced to bootleg and grow their own smoking tobacco!

A reformed smoker of 4 years on Mother's day, I can say smoking was a very satisfying and addictive habit. I still miss smoking to this day! Loving something beyond myself, I didn't want my child to be the next generation becoming a slave to the nicotine habit. Scrounging around for change to buy a pack of smokes, paying a tax which breeds off of a persons addictive habit. I was a diehard smoker standing on the corners of buildings feeling like an idiot, on display like look at me "I'm a bad person," "I'm a a sinner!" Meanwhile folks who smoke and drink are some of the best people I know! It was my choice to quit but I know how hard that choice was, so I don't condemn others for their chioces! We're all going to die of something, some of us sooner than others. We can only make the right choices for ourselves and those we love!

I quit cold turkey, which is the hardest way to go! I'll compose another post in the future with tips on how I quit! Hey maybe you can trade those pack of smokes in for a beer even up?! The price of each is almost the same in some instances! What insane tax will they think of next!
My Black Rasberry Chambord pictured above is one of my favorite liquers.