Jump to full article: Washington Times, 2002-05-18
Author: Michelle Malkin
Intro: Well, now it's the finger-wagging government's turn to 'fess up to its own indirect role in funding terrorism through sky-high cigarette taxes. Let me explain.
Next week, the alleged ringleader of an organized-crime cell based in Charlotte, N.C., will go on trial for providing cash and military-style technology to Hezbollah. . .
If not for taxaholic bureaucrats, this suspected terrorist operation wouldn't have gotten off the ground. States addicted to nicotine-stained revenue are all too happy to participate in the sanctimonious charade of condemning the vice while pocketing a chunk of the profits. But those who advocate punitive tobacco taxes to reduce smoking and "protect kids" continue to ignore the connection between sin taxes and illegal sales. Every state along the East Coast that has slapped astronomical and regressive taxes on tobacco has been invaded by increasingly savvy and organized smugglers.
It's the same story in Canada and Sweden . . .
The feds have used taxpayer funds to draw a tenuous link between drug abuse and terrorism. But the link between high tobacco taxes and terrorist funding is far stronger. Sure, greedy state and federal lawmakers didn't directly fund Hezbollah terrorist killers.
As "Timmy" put it so well, they "just kind of helped."
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