NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/consumer/21834

Text File | 1993-01-11 | 1.5 KB | 30 lines

Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!uw-beaver!fluke!plato!simnet
From: [e-mail] (Mark R Poulson)
Subject: Re: Canadian proof (not)  that taxation lowers cigarette consumption
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Boeing Defense & Space Group
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:10:25 GMT
Lines: 20

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Joseph Weinstein) writes:
> Dean Edell on KGO revealed some data about canadian tobacco consumption, where
> taxation raised the cost of cigarettes to about $3 a pack. The data show that
> prior to the tax increase, per capita consumption was equal to the U.S. In the
> few years since the taxation the consumption rate has dropped by 30%.

To this I say no shit! If they'd tax the packs at $100 per pack, the number
of purchased packs would decrease sharply. But you'd also see a black market
form where the smokes are much cheaper, but illegal. For some people, giving
up smoking is so difficult that they would either go into bankrupcy or do
illegal things to get the smokes they need. Nicotine is no different than
pot or cocaine or alcohol or gambling, .... it gives SOME people a fix they
just can't live without.

How did they determine that consumption decreased -- by counting the number
of cigarette packs sold? If so, they they aren't counting the hordes of
Canadians that cross the border here into Washington every weekend who buy
as much of our cheap gas and cheap smokes as they can without paying a duty fee.

        Mark