Sid Salter Questions Why Families Are Forced to Pay Higher Taxes on Necessities Then Cigarettes

Therefore, the priority of Mississippi government — Gov. Haley Barbour the lead dog and his lapdogs in the state Senate chief among them — is that we keep the 4-out-of-4 Mississippians who must purchase gasoline to get to work, school and church paying within 7 percent of the national average gasoline tax so that we can protect the apparent divine right of the 1-in-4 Mississippians who smoke to pay 72 percent less in tobacco taxes than other Americans. If there is any logic or fiscal responsibility in a state artificially keeping cigarette taxes almost 10 times lower than gasoline taxes, it’s lost on this writer. Gasoline is a necessity that must be purchased by virtually all Mississippi families and businesses. Cigarettes aren’t.

Read the entire column in the Meridian Star. It ticks me off to be forced to subsidize a nasty habit that causes cancer and pollutes the air we all breath. I for one am sick and tired of breathing the second hand smoke of the 1-4 Mississippians that choose to smoke. I will support candidates who will ban smoking in public places and will raise the cigarette tax.