Comments for Jindal: No new taxes on tobacco at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://www.theind.com Sun, 19 May 2013 10:57:26 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7996-jindal-no-new-taxes-on-tobacco#comment-17915 Sorry Ragin_Cajun, I have to agree with gaius. The state of Louisiana, offers no real opportunity. Forcing people to quit smoking will inevitably lead to higher crime, and violence, as smokers with low income will be forced to find a way to get their nicotine fix. Smokers for the most part rely on cigarettes to maintain lower stress levels, regardless of what science may say, I as a smoker know that smoking calms me down, and helps me and many smokers I know keep their anger in check. The last thing you want is a bunch of overly pissed off people with little self control running around, even if it only lasts 2-4 months per person, if every smoker quits in a domino effect the damage done to the state in the time it would take would be immense. - Bronco Fri, 20 May 2011 13:03:07 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7996-jindal-no-new-taxes-on-tobacco#comment-15929 "there is no upward mobility in Louisiana, unless you marry into money or win the lottery ticket" Patently untrue. - ragin_cajun Fri, 25 Mar 2011 08:45:21 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/7996-jindal-no-new-taxes-on-tobacco#comment-15922 Taxing tobacco was the first sort of revenue for the new expanded governmental services in Europe in the late 17th century. It was called the "vice tax." As long as we have a repressive social order in Louisiana, where the great majority of our citizens are the "working poor" who will never acquire a modicum of small wealth, their only pleasure is smoking cigarettes. It does two things for them: (1.) It gives them relaxation (as their lungs are being destroyed imperceptibly); and (2.) it dampens their spirit, so they will not aspire beyond a situation which is stacked against them in Louisiana (there is no upward mobility in Louisiana, unless you marry into money or win the lottery ticket). This keeps the citizenry pacified and inert. The politicans should not even tax tobacco. This is the only honest pleasure the poor have in Louisiana. It aids their early death, so they do not have to endure any further misery from a meaningless, unfulfilled vacuous existence. - Gaius Cilnius Maecenas Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:23:24 +0100