Bill Introduced to Further Raise Federal Tax on Pipe Tobacco

Brothers of Briar

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Unfortunately, many of us knew this was coming as a response to the RYO companies changing a lot of their labeling to market their products as pipe tobacco, in order to get around the outrageous taxes imposed on the RYO products. Hopefully it won't pass but in all likely hood, at some point it will just to make up the lost revenue from the decline in sales of the RYO tobacco.

Hey, it's what a majority of Americans must have wanted, they voted for the administration that has rammed through all of the tobacco taxes so far with a president that has vowed to sign every tobacco tax bill that comes across his desk. Ironically, he is sitting there signing the bill with a cigarette in his mouth paid for with tax payer's money.
 
I am betting that tobacco tax increases will only get worse. As more and more people quit smoking, tax revenues are bound to decrease, so congress and state legislatures will just keep on adding more taxes. One of these days they will have to learn that you can only make up so much of that defecit before you destroy the entire industry.

Furthermore, the problem is not strictly partisan. Utah Senator Christensen, a Republican, unveiled a plan last week to increase that states cigarette tax to $1.30 per pack. Charlie Crist, Republican governor of Florida, signed into law a tax increase of $1 a pack in May of this year. Before John McCain's failed run for the presidency, he supported higher taxes and tighter regulations on tobacco. Earlier this year, the Republican governor of Mississippi signed into law a 277% tax increase on a pack of cigarettes.

The only thing we can do about this nonsense (other than bitch and moan) is to vote for people who we hope will not jump on the tax increase bandwagon. Just because somebody belongs to a particular party is meaningless when it comes to tobacco taxes.

It's going to be an uphill fight all the way. JP is right, the majority of Americans don't mind higher tobacco taxes....why not? The majority of Americans don't smoke it.
 
dt753":nlbpx5jc said:
I am betting that tobacco tax increases will only get worse. As more and more people quit smoking, tax revenues are bound to decrease, so congress and state legislatures will just keep on adding more taxes. One of these days they will have to learn that you can only make up so much of that defecit before you destroy the entire industry.
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That is exactly why they are going after the increase on pipe tobacco DT. With the decling sales of RYO due to the outrageous taxes the legislators now have to go after something else to balance the revenue loss. I saw it happen here in NC when they passed an outrageous tax on new boats. NC is a big boat manufacturing state and because of the tax revenue loss on new boat sales and the number of manufacturers that had to close up shop forced our legislators to reverse the tax. I don't know the figures off the top of my head but the revenue the state lost and the numbers on the economic impact were staggering. I believe on the state level the same thing will happen with the taxes on tobacco. They can't do anything about a federal tax but once the light bulb goes off indicating how much they are cutting their own throats with the state taxes, they will reverse or at least relieve them a bit.
 
You're right, it's a never-ending cycle. Another problem is that there will be some people who quit because of the prices, and not start back even if the price of tobacco was lower. Also, if pipe tobacco prices go through the roof, that's going to reduce the amount of new pipe smokers. And all the while, none of this even takes into consideration all the restrictions on where we can smoke, and the tighter regulations on the tobacco industry. It's all working together to destroy a freedom that we have long taken for granted.

Case in point, Me. I was a cigarette smoker for years, and only puffed on my pipes in the evening. I grew tired of paying through the nose for a carton of Pall Malls, so I gave them up and now only smoke pipes. While I could never go back to cigarettes (they taste awful to me now), it was the rising costs of cigarettes that finally forced me to quit them in favor of a pipe.
 
Yep, just keep taxing it until you kill it completely. In this case that may be their long-term goal but look out for what they set their sights on next. Why can't they learn from the clear evidence that tax cuts are the best way to increase both the economy and tax revenues??!!!

Oh well, I have already informed the wife that the CC is going to take a major hit in the next couple of weeks if this thing looks like it has serious legs under it!

You guys with the 100# cellars can stop with the smug grins now! :oops:
 
I sent off an email to my "elected" officials. Hope everyone else will do the same. Don't know if it will help but it preserves my bitching rights.
 
I think this goes hand-in-hand, with the legislature and the general public's aversion to tobacco.

NC has recently passed a bill that bans indoor smoking, even if confined to a specific area of the structure. In 7/07 or '08 the University of NC at Chapel Hill's medical complex, which is large, banned all tobacco use throughout it. There was one small outside area where smoking was permitted but this was changed.

I would wonder how close the other states are to enacting a statewide ban.

Unless shown otherwise by dwindling revenues, the legislatures are going to increase taxes on all tobacco products that match those already imposed on cigarettes. After all, they are only following the political wills of their constituents.

I'm not sure that we can have an impact on this.
 
I for one an overjoyed by the glorious news! Imagine the love that will be showered upon pipe smokers as we single handely restore the National Budget. The thought just gives me goose bumps.. why stop at $26, why not $52, or even better $104.. We could all feel patriotic about $104 a lb tax.. right? Oh Say Can you see, by the dawns early light, what so proudly we held at the twilights last gleaming.. YES, YES,YES!!!!!!!!! Do your country proud fellow pipers, RESTORE the Economy to her once glorious place for Mother America!











Like a couple 8-maybe 10 thousand guys paying $26 bucks is going to fix 10-20 Trillion in the red.
 
puros_bran":4k1q2g8d said:
I for one an overjoyed by the glorious news! Imagine the love that will be showered upon pipe smokers as we single handely restore the National Budget. The thought just gives me goose bumps.. why stop at $26, why not $52, or even better $104.. We could all feel patriotic about $104 a lb tax.. right? Oh Say Can you see, by the dawns early light, what so proudly we held at the twilights last gleaming.. YES, YES,YES!!!!!!!!! Do your country proud fellow pipers, RESTORE the Economy to her once glorious place for Mother America!











Like a couple 8-maybe 10 thousand guys paying $26 bucks is going to fix 10-20 Trillion in the red.
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"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".

:lol!: :lol!: :lol!:
 
As a service to the pipe smoking community and the industry of pipe makers and pipe tobacco producers we have set up a free service that will automatically send emails to your Senators and Congressmen.

We have already typed the letter for you. The system does everything. Just enter your address, we find the right contacts and send them your opposition to the tax increase.

Stop the Pipe Tobacco Tax
 
Centurian 803":53s6ig21 said:
I sent off an email to my "elected" officials. Hope everyone else will do the same. Don't know if it will help but it preserves my bitching rights.
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I, too, shall go through with the motions, but am very pessimistic about the outcome. And someone said this is the Golden Age of pipe smoking?... :cry:
 
Stock up, boys, stock up - there's gold in them there jars!

(but please be sure to leave some FVF for me; that is whenever it actually becomes readily available again).
 
I went and signed the petition, and forwarded links to it to my other pipe smoking buddies.

I would hope that every single member of Brothers of Briar would do likewise. The effects of this legislation would forever change the landscape of the pipe and tobacco industry. The dangers of this bills passage cannot be stressed enough, guys.
 
Petition signed and emails sent.

I can only comment that the cigar business still seems to be doing OK after the SCHIP tax, although in retrospect they did not get hit near as hard as it looks like we will, if you consider the tax relative to the total cost of the product, since the cost of 'gars was already high per smoke.

I will likely stock up as much as I can afford as a buffer to the higher prices. Hope this doesn't see the end of some of the favorite blends.
 
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