Tobacco and Groceries - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 18, 2006

Tobacco and Groceries

Date: Jan 18, 2006

Reversed Priority wrote:

I see our good Governor has vetoed a bill which would have raised the sales tax on tobacco and phased out the tax on groceries.

That just happened today. The item I read on this included the statement "Barbour, a former Washington lobbyist for tobacco companies......"

Date: Jan 18, 2006

And to think that Mississippi got all of that tobacco money. Barbour must think we didn't get enough. Making tobacco accessible is a good way to do it.

Date: Jan 18, 2006

I was all in favor of that legislation until I learned that the sales tax on food is a significant part of the budget of many small communities. So now, I don't know. Barbour's arguement is that it will cost the state more to prop up the economies of these small towns than it will realize in the tax realignment. Does anybody have hard data on this?
When I lived in Kentucky there was no tax on food or medicine, but I don't know what there was instead, except a payroll tax in many towns.

Date: Jan 18, 2006

LVN wrote:

When I lived in Kentucky there was no tax on food.

It was like that in New Jersey.

Date: Jan 18, 2006

LVN wrote:

Does anybody have hard data on this?

Barbour probably has the hard data on this. Very likely supplied by his former boss the tobacco industry.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Foul Breath wrote:

Barbour probably has the hard data on this. Very likely supplied by his former boss the tobacco industry.

Do you have a real answer or don't you?

Date: Jan 19, 2006

LVN wrote:

Foul Breath wrote: Barbour probably has the hard data on this. Very likely supplied by his former boss the tobacco industry. Do you have a real answer or don't you?

I must admit that I don't. But I thought it was a good way to point out the possibility of a conflict of interest.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Thank you for an honest answer!

Date: Jan 19, 2006

LVN wrote:

Thank you for an honest answer!

Honest answers are hard to come by in politics.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

its all in the politics

Tobacco Tax Rate Rank

1 Rhode Island Blue,

2 New Jersey Blue

3 Michigan Blue

4 Montana Red

5 Alaska Red

6 Connecticut Blue

6 Massachusetts Blue

8 New York Blue

9 Washington Blue

10 Hawaii Blue

11 Pennsylvania Blue

12 Vermont Blue

13 Oregon Blue

13 Arizona Red

15 Oklahoma Red

16 Maine Blue

16 Maryland Blue

19 Illinois Blue

20 New Mexico Red

21 California Blue

22 Colorado Red

23 Arkansas Red

23 Nevada Red

24 Kansas Red

25 Wisconsin Blue

26 Utah Red

27 Nebraska Red

28 Wyoming Red

30 Idaho Red

31 Indiana Red

32 Delaware Blue

32 Ohio Red

32 West Virginia Red

35 South Dakota Red

36 New Hampshire Blue

37 Minnesota Blue

38 North Dakota Red

39 Alabama Red

40 Texas Red

41 Georgia Red

42 Iowa Red

42 Louisiana Red

44 Florida Red

45 Tennessee Red

45 Virginia Red

47 Mississippi Red

48 Missouri Red

49 South Carolina Red

50 North Carolina Red

51 Kentucky Red

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Clear as, um, purple.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Palette wrote:

Clear as, um, purple.

Yes - 22 of lowest 25 tax states are red. and 10 out of 10 for the absolute lowest. The latter category is dominated by Bible Belt Southern states.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Well, if they were to raise the tobacco tax and cut the grocery tax, where would the money lost from the grocery tax come from?

Probably an increase in property tax.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Obviousman wrote:

Palette wrote:
Clear as, um, purple.
Yes - 22 of lowest 25 tax states are red. and 10 out of 10 for the absolute lowest. The latter category is dominated by Bible Belt Southern states.

Where do you think tobacco is grown? Hint: Kentucky and North Carolina will always have the lowest taxes on it.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

All taxes are not created equal.

The grocery tax--like all sales taxes--is generally viewed as a regressive tax, that is, a tax that hits hardest on that portion of the population that's least able to afford it: the working poor. The grocery tax, in other words, hits a family making $16,000 a year a lot harder than it does a family making $75,000. The theory behind regressive tax relief--as with any tax relief, I think--is that by freeing up income in that lowest economic sector tax relief will create a strenghtened demand for goods and services where none existed before. This increased demand will "spur the economy" to create production and service jobs and thus increase revenue from personal income taxes and related sources: taxes on consumer durables purchases, taxes on increased business incomes.

Additionally, there's a moral aspect to grocery tax relief: it is immoral for the poor to pay a greater proportion of their income on taxes than the better off. The grocery tax is regressive morally as well as economically one might say. I find it almost shocking that our perenially benighted legislators would actually take such a progressive course as repealing the grocery tax. And it looks like they have the veto proof majority if our state's executive lobbyist-in-chief. . . er . . . I mean Governor Barbour, decides to remain true to his past as a tobacco lobbyist, morality be damned.

Also, property taxes are not state taxes are they? Aren't they levied by the community where the property is located?

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Coast Watcher, on this at least we agree. People who've never lived "close to the bone" don't understand what an extra ten dollars on the grocery bill means to a family. I could feed a family of four at least three meals for that (well, as long as one of them wasn't a teenage boy!)

Date: Jan 19, 2006

LVN wrote:

Where do you think tobacco is grown? Hint: Kentucky and North Carolina will always have the lowest taxes on it.

And Virginia. Some tobacco companies are headquartered in Virginia.

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Grocery tax cut will be harmful to cities, towns, taxpayers

Date: Jan 19, 2006

Coast Watcher wrote:

All taxes are not created equal. The grocery tax--like all sales taxes--is generally viewed as a regressive tax, that is, a tax that hits hardest on that portion of the population that's least able to afford it: the working poor

At least we can agree on that, Coast Watcher.