I Don't Even Smoke...

...and I want to say "Sit on this and rotate" to these tools.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A coalition of health organizations wants to quadruple the tax on a pack of cigarettes in California to boost funding for a variety of health programs.

The per-pack tax would jump by $2.60 under an initiative the coalition hopes to place on the November 2006 ballot, supporters said Tuesday. If voters approve the proposal, California's total tax on a pack of cigarettes would rise to $3.47, the highest in the nation.

Thats $3.47 per pack, from our pockets to your coffers...for what? Because of a vice? Are they going to start charging me $2 per bottle of beer next? WTF? Where do these people get the idea that its ok for the .gov to not only regulate what we can and can't do in our free time, but that its ok to charge us for having habits they find unfavorable? Nevermind...

Here's my "modest proposal" - for every dollar collected from taxes due to the nanny-state legislation like these idiot want enforced, the health organizations behind the initiative matches that dollar. 1:1, nothing less. $30.47 everytime someone buys a carton means $30.47 from your treasury. Do you still think its a good idea? That way, all the "health programs" you want to see get paid for, and you helped do it, rather than laying it out on the taxpayers.

A question: who the hell do you think you are?

I'd like to see a $10 per firearm tax enacted here in California. Ten bucks on every purchase and transfer. All those 10-spots will go to the costs of issuing shall-issue permits. Everyone that wants one, gets one, at the price of an additional $10 every time I buy a gun. How about that? It's the same kinda thing. But it makes the nannies crap their pants.

I may start smoking, just so I can muster more righteous indignation.