Cigarette lawsuit
It appears that tobacco companies are suing the state over the new tobacco "fee." The storyline sounds like a comedy to me. They are suing because under the terms of the tobacco settlement, the state can't charge a "fee" to recover the cost of tobacco use. So Pawlenty insisting that this is a fee, not a tax, prompted this mess. But wait! It's not a fee, it's a tax, some say, and besides, everybody knows the money isn't going to help cover the costs of tobacco use, they are going to fund education. So it's not a violation of the settlement after all!
Once again, this is a reminder that "words mean things." Pawlenty and supporters trying to be all cutesy calling the tax a fee has real consequences.
posted by MN Politics Guru @ 17:10
3 Comments:
Call it what you will, it's working, at least from our point of view.
The combination of the price increase, local smokefree ordinances and the death of Peter Jennings have prompted more Minnesotans to quit smoking than any time we can remember.
Besides, does ANYONE want Big Tobacco to win?
Where are these liars/lawyers for alleged governments when the truth is necessary? The truth is that 38 States Attorney Generals sued the Tobacco Industry allegedly on behalf of those who seem to have suffered from the effects of smoking. Then, suburban liars that they are, fraudulently turned the money over to fund children's schools and not to the victims. In this complete fraud they disallocated funds garnered from false testimony and perjured themselves about where the money would be used. Why? Because they wanted votes and they don't want to pay for their kids education. They'd rather steal the money from smokers as yet another punishment for smokers being politically incorrect and thus establishing a complete Nazi control of the Anti-Smoking Campaign. I said the next world war would be fought over a cigarette and I'm right. All you goodie two shoes out there pave the road to Hell with your alleged good intentions [all the while stealing what doesn't belong to you in the first place!]. Hey, Mr. Good Guy, get your hand out of my pocket and pay for your own kids!
P.S.: And stop using Smart Bombs to blow up other peoples' kids in Iraq!
And the American Lung Association hasn't told the truth about the cause of most lung deseases since Diesel invented the automobile [the true culprit in over 90% of lung desease cases].
That's because the American Lung Association is run by trustees who have too much pension money tied up in the auto industry and its related holdings and that would mean they would cut their own profits and donations.
You, American Lung Association, are a worse liars than you could ever accuse Reynolds and Morris of being.
You're also a thief, stealing settlement money that was stated clearly in the filing briefs to go to victims of tobacco, not your little rugrats and not to cut your property tax.
Nothing worse than a politically correct Foundation of Fraud like the American Lung Association.
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