(no subject)

[Guest guest]

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REBUTTALS

 

Smokers have the liveliest responses. Here's some highlights.

 

Smoking already covered by tobacco taxes

 

Tobacco is a $40 billion a year industry. The medical cost covering smoking

related illnesses is $100 billion a year. The industry needs to pay two and

half times more before it can present itself as a `break even' proposition to

the American people. Tobacco multinationals skim the `profits' and then leave

the American taxpayer to pick up the tab for the medical cost. The `free

market system' demands that every business become self-sustaining without

government intrusion and subsidy. ROOPA request the same of the tobacco

industry. The $60 billion difference tobacco should be paying would be enough

to provide health insurance to America's remaining 45 million uninsured. That

money is instead going to cover tobacco's medical cost.

 

Smoking doesn't cost that much.

 

Smokers have a hard time accepting that tobacco related medical expenses come

to $100 billion a year. That's fine. So let's cut that figure by a 3rd or

even one half. At some point, one must admit that smoking has an undisputed

cost that even they should recognize. Let smokers cover the uncontested

amounts. All consumers should cover the uncontested portion of their products

social cost. This would do wonders for our economy and cut taxes and

insurance by 15% to 25%.

 

Everyone smokes and drinks so only fair to share cost between all taxpayers.

 

'Everyone' in American drives yet only those who own or operate a car pay

auto insurance. NOT EVERYONE drives, smokes or drinks. Tax-subsidized social

cost for smokers and drinkers is like having taxpayers cover insurance

premiums for all car owners. It's poor policy and bad economics.

 

Smokers cover their cost with higher insurance premiums.

 

ROOPA simply transfers this insurance premium and equally divides it into the

retail price of every pack of cigarettes sold. ROOPA is not some arbitrary

tax decided by a Washington bureaucrat like we see in today's tobacco taxes.

ROOPA's price tag is found much the same way insurance companies figure your

premiums. Insurance is the commercial system for estimating the "social

cost" of ones lifestyle, product or environment. ROOPA has too big advantages

over today's system.

 

A) Pay as you go. Many smokers can't afford health insurance so drop their

policy though continuing to smoke. With ROOPA, you pay the extra $5 per pack

so never get ahead of yourself. Others lie about smoking and so don't pay

their fair share.

 

B) Pay in degree to use: In today's system, someone who smokes 3 packs a

week pays the same insurance premium as one who smokes 3 packs a day. Under

ROOPA, the insurance premium is equally divided between each pack of

cigarettes. Therefore, the more you smoke, the more you've already paid

towards your insurance premium. No more, no less. You smoke once or a

thousand times, your covered for all tobacco related medical cost for life.

 

C) This may cut many insurance companies out of the loop, but this is the

way of free markets and economic efficiency.

 

80% of the cost are caused by 20% of the users who abuse it--chain smokers &

kids, pregnant moms etc. Cigarettes will go from being a daily staple to a

high end luxury item. Casual social users can afford 40 cents for a cigarette

while most chain smokers and kids cannot. As these higher prices reduce their

consumption, 80% of smoking's social cost is reduced along with it. It's free

market economics at its purist.

 

Tobacco & smokers unfairly picked on.

 

Tobacco has been unfairly cited against many other industries also

responsible for a great deal of social cost. As one family member roared,

`You criticize smokers when your driving across country in a SUV car

responsible for billions of dollars worth of environmental and health related

problems.' He was a smoker and he was 100% right. Owners of petroleum driven

cars should also pay for the social cost of focil fuel run cars. ROOPA holds

all parties and industries responsible. No more playing fovorites.

 

Pointing out others faults to justify one's own short comings is based upon

the premised that "two wrongs make a right." 'I should be excused for my

crime because others are.' This maybe better known in today's court system as

legal precedent. They are too often used to protect the guilty at the expense

of the innocent. ROOPA exposes this backwards logic and corrects this

regressive system.