taxes

Putting a higher tax on cigarettes seems to be in the news again, supposedly to stop kids from smoking. Why is it most of the people who want this tax are anti-smoking to begin with. If kids are smoking it's the parents not the businesses who are failing. I am a smoker, my teenage son is not. He has been lectured about the dangers of smoking since before he could understand what I was saying. And if taxes are raised it wouldn't lower the deficit or do any common good anyway. When the government sued tobbocco companies the money went for JEL ads that even kids see as stupid.

If cigarettes get taxed, so should gasoline because of the pollution that exhaust emit. Food should be taxed really high because childhood obesity is way up, and that can cause health problems, and even kill the kids when they get older. Spray paint should be taxed to stop graffiti, which is destructive. Skateboards and bicycles should be tax due to possibilities of head injuries, and why not tax cribs to end crib death.

If government could learn to live within their means, if would be a better world for us all. Politicians need to work with what they have. People used to have original ideas, what happened to cutting edge thinkers? Did they go the way of the dinosaurs? Local government is as guilty as any. The Freight House project should be stopped, maybe permanently. Basic services need to get done, period. Driving my truck around this city is like driving in a war zone. If I happen to miss all the potholes I get funny looks for driving on the sidewalk.