FIRST THINGS FIRST:
We here in Florida, have a 6 billion dollar deficit. Mainly because our local politicians are idiots and want nothing but to line their greedy scumbag pockets and screw everyone else in the process. I echo this statement with a majority of the states as well, so im not picking on Florida. However, in this example, I will be talking specifically about Florida because I live here and love Floridians. I also refuse to understand the outrageous hikes in other aspects of our lives (see the article below my cig research).
Well, here's how simple it is people. It is LITERALLY THIS SIMPLE.
43 million people in the US smoke cigs. Disgusting cigarettes that do nothing but KILL people on a daily basis. I am a smoker (just to be clear).
(I could only find solid smoking statistics from 2006 for Florida, so all of my numbers are from that year. Just assume all these numbers are a little inflated now.)
18 million people lived in Florida in 2006.
17% of those people smoke on a daily basis. That's about 3 million daily smokers.
Im using $4.00 as the current medium for a pack of smokes (this does not include the current $1 hike). And im also assuming that everyone smokes a pack a day on average (some smoke way more, some less).
3 million people buy a pack of $4 cigs a day. That is $12 million dollars a day that is going towards nothing. A very small percentage goes to the state.
So lets go ahead and raise that to $5 (which is currently happening), the additional $1.00 goes to the state. That's 3 million dollar a DAY REVENUE that should be going to our state.
We are 6 billion in the hole, so with the current $1 hike it will take us.....2000 days (or 5 1/2 years) to raise enough money to kill our deficit, which everyday is increasing. 5 1/2 years is ridiculous and pointless!!!
So lets charge smokers $7.00 per pack. I GUARANTEE that people will still buy cigarettes, or at the very least will switch to a cheaper brand (still making the STATE the same revenue but not lining global cigarette manufacturers pockets).
Although smokers (myself) wont like this, they wont bitch because its a stupid horrible addiction. But its an addiction.....smokers will continue to smoke. We have to smoke, we are addicted. So why not use our sorry asses to fix the Florida economy?
So lets add a $3 surcharge. That's a 9 million dollar a day revenue for the state. These are numbers that actually have an impact.
WE WILL MAKE 3.3 BILLION DOLLARS IN FLORIDA REVENUE IN ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!
NOT ONLY WILL THIS QUICKLY HELP OUR LOCAL ECONOMY, IT WILL EVENTUALLY DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF SMOKERS IN FLORIDA.
For some reason, our Politicians dont understand simple math. This should have happened yesterday. This is not difficult.
DOING THIS WILL ELIMINATE THE NEED TO DO WHAT I TALK ABOUT BELOW.
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The best thing to do when nobody can find jobs and every business is shutting down on East Colonial drive, is to hike up the prices of stuff we are forced to pay for.
The electric company hike wasn't enough, so now the wonderful State of Florida is hiking the prices of every single thing associated with you having to drive your car to your shit job that you hate.
Not small hikes either....the cost of renewing your license (which literally probaby costs the state 30 cents to do) is going from $20 to $48. Pardon? Are you fucking kidding me?
F YOU CHARLIE CRIST!
WE HAVE GOT TO START PAYING ATTENTION TO OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!! WE SHOULD HAVE A SAY IN THIS!
RAISE THE PRICES OF CIGARETTES, RAISE THE PRICES OF BEER, RAISE THE PRICES OF SHIT THAT WE HAVE AN OPTION TO PURCHASE. RAISE THE PRICES ON STUFF THAT WE INDULGE IN BUT DONT HAVE TOO! DO NOT RAISE THE PRICES OF STUFF WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO PAY FOR!
WE HAVE TO GO TO OUR SHIT JOBS TO CONTINUE PUMPING MONEY INTO A STATE THAT IS DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT EFFING US IN THE ARSE IN RETURN.
PS. Joe Gibbons is awesome.
