Punitive tax on tobacco cannot be justified
Four products used to control stress are food/snacks, alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Consider the mind/body interface. The body is a marvelous vessel of self-regulating functions until the mind succumbs to stress, affecting body functions.
My choice: tobacco, through cigarettes, cigars, snuff or chewing. I prefer roll-your-own cigarettes. Rolling your own involves buying tobacco in bulk — a 6 oz. can — along with purchasing a box of filters/tubes.
The bulk tobacco is then cut to a finer composition, sorted by pulling out stems and hard leaves, then inserted in a rolling machine to inject into the tube filter. The shank of an ink pen is used to ram it down while hand-sifting more tobacco. A small percentage of smokers use this product. I partake for two reasons: moderation of use and cost savings.
There is a delayed gratification effect, the act of progress toward addressing stress in the manufacturing process, therefore addressing moderation versus quantities of factory cigarettes.
This has kept me out of the health care system — no medication, no health problems, not even aspirin. By not partaking in the mainstream food/snacks category, I’m 53 years old, 6 feet tall and weigh 140 pounds.
President Barack Obama paid for children’s health care in April with a 210 percent tax increase on this product, from 7 cents per ounce to $1.55 per ounce.This is a violation of the public trust and is discriminatory. Justify to me a punitive tax levied on perhaps 5 percent of the population (who roll their own tobacco) when more than 100 million abuse food and snacks.
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