March 2011

The House voted overwhelmingly to decrease the tax on cigarettes by a dime.&nbsp; Not much, but it is a start.&nbsp; The bill is expected to pass the Senate.<br type="_moz" />

The Canadian Medical Association proposes a &quot;fat tax&quot; on junk food.<br type="_moz" />

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman will not sign a proposed cigarette tax of $1.99 even if the legislation reaches his desk. The Governor says, &quot;the cigarette tax unfairly targets a small population that tends to earn lower-than-average incomes.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br />
<br type="_moz" />

ASH UK claims that raising the tax on cigarettes above the current rate of inflation will &quot;help&quot; (read &quot;force&quot;) smokers to quit and won’t encourage smuggling.&nbsp; Wrong!&nbsp; Whenever the price of a pack of cigarettes go up, smuggling goes up–it has again and again and again.<br type="_moz" />

Menthol cigarettes represent less than 1% of the total amount of cigarettes sales.&nbsp; Advocates say that menthol cigarettes persuade young people to smoke.&nbsp; This is a publicity stunt pure and simple with no basis to support the allegations.<br type="_moz" />

Congratulations, anti-tobacco.&nbsp; Someone has actually gone through the trouble to create an online game where the objective is to assassinate smokers.<br type="_moz" />

<p>Belgium’s top court decided Tuesday to widen the country’s smoking ban in public spaces to cover all cafes and the kingdom’s nine casinos from July 1.&nbsp; Smoking is still allowed in well ventilated rooms.</p>

Considering the study came from the John Hopkins <u>Bloomberg </u>School of Public Health, they have finally figured out that increasing the tax on cigarettes forces people to find cheaper cigarettes on the Internet.<br type="_moz" />

From Danish blogger Klaus K comes an in-depth analysis by Niels Ipsen and Klaus Kjellerup regarding the benefits of smoking; translated from Danish into English. <br />
<br />
&quot;After 40 years of scientific research on the effects of nicotine, researchers now say that they have sound scientific proof that smoking and nicotine have a significant positive effect on human brain performance.&quot;<br />
<br />
This well referenced and researched article is certain to be of great interest to FORCES devotees, as well as any tobacco user.<br type="_moz" />

Senate Bill S. 2981 would add an additional $1.65 tax to the already staggering $4.35 the state levies in taxes on a pack of cigarettes.&nbsp; The tax hike last year saw sales increase in Vermont and Pennsylvania. New Jersey, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are considering reducing their cigarette tax to raise revenues.&nbsp; <br />