Submitted by Anne Landman on
The corporate-backed astroturf group Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), which morphed into a new group called "FreedomWorks" in 2004, has helped defeat a bill in Oregon that aimed to raise the state's cigarette tax by 84 cents, to match that of neighboring Washington state. The tax was aimed at encouraging more smokers to quit while raising funds to provide health insurance to over 100,000 of the state's underprivileged children. In addition to the controversial way in which CSE/FreedomWorks has been found to expand its mailing list and coffers (namely, by tricking people signing up for insurance policies), the group has long been closely linked to the tobacco industry and Philip Morris in particular. The tobacco industry is notorious for using third parties to fight legislation it doesn't like. Mr. Butts was so happy about defeating the Oregon tax, he created a YouTube video about his efforts.
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yu7ybwvuukvare2... replied on Permalink
Smokers eventually quitting....
The Congressional Research Service, in the 1998 revision of their study found: Smokers cost the federal government $9 billion in medical care and $10 billion in lost contributions to social security, etc. But they also found they save $40 billion in retirement costs (mostly social security), about $8 billion in nursing home costs (mostly from Medicaid), and they collect $5.6 billion in cigarette taxes. When added up, smokers saved the federal government $34.6 billion dollars yearly.
The end result of smokers quitting is living longer and ultimately costing the taxpayer more money....LOL!