Jump to full article: Deseret News, 2010-03-07
Author: Lee Benson Deseret News
Intro: Now that it appears we're going to get the money needed so those 29 Utah Highway Patrol troopers won't have to be laid off, and those 213 prison inmates won't have to be released early, and that juvenile court judge in St. George can be hired, and the drivers' license bureaus can open on Fridays, and any number of the state's health and social services can be funded, I thought it only appropriate to thank the people who will be paying for it.
And let me tell you, they're not exactly saying, "You're welcome."
I'm at Tobacco Max, a smoke shop on State Street. If it involves tobacco, this is the place. The store is wall-to-wall stuff you can smoke. Wallpaper by Marlboro.
By midmorning Friday, the news that the state Legislature just voted for a dollar-a-pack cigarette tax increase — the basis for the projected $44 million that will pay for all of the above — has filtered into the shop. . . .
Tobacco taxes not only target a minority of the public, he says, but they target the poor over the rich.
For evidence, he explains that he consistently delivers 65 percent of his tobacco to the west side of the freeway that dissects the valley, with just 35 percent going to the more affluent east side.
"That tells you who will mostly be paying this tax," he says.
Unless, miracle of miracles, they all quit, which will put us back to square one.
In the meantime, the least we can do, as they dig that lint out of their pockets, is thank them for their generosity.
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