tax

Some people say that, with the current economic problems, this year is not one to raise taxes.

Yes, many people’s finances are tight at this time. Families are having to tighten their belts and do without many things they would like to have. Vacation travel, meals in restaurants, and many other things are being cut back. Many families will have to make the decision every time they spend money: must we have this expense?

However, the needs of municipalities, counties, and states continue. School districts have to buy more land and build more schools to handle the increased school population. The construction and land acquisition costs are far higher than they were for existing schools. Streets have to be improved to handle the increased traffic. A larger population will require more services.

I can't do this post justice, but I just felt I had to write something about this latest study. In the largest study of its kind, it has been found that smoking marijuana has no association with cancer. None. Not even if you are a heavy marijuana smoker. No association. Period.

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.
"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

So, why does smoking pot not cause cancer while tobacco kills more than 440,000 people in the US each year?

This is an interesting story about the success of a program in Wisconsin, where a $1 cigarette tax lead to more people trying to/actually quitting. But, before I get into that, I'd like to share my point of view on tobacco and taxes. I'm for taxes on tobacco as a way of diversifying the family farming industry in North Carolina. I'm also against growing tobacco because it is an immoral crop - a crop that leads to addiction, pain, agony, and finally death. It kills more people than drunk drivers, it kills more people than heroin, it kills more people than Osama bin Laden, it ruins more lives than gambling or fornication or adultery or taking the Lord's name in vain. It is immoral.

The only reason we allow its growth is to make rich, white men richer and because it is the only good, addictive drug that we grow here in the US. As Chris Rock says:

God forbid some brown people got wealthy... We can't have that! Because drugs come from brown countries. We can't have no wealthy brown people!
...
If drugs were legalized, there would be a drug spot in every corner. It wouldn't be a Starbucks. It'd be Weedbucks. McDonald's? McCokeald's. Krispy Kreme? Kracky Kreme.

Chris Rock is probably right, if rich, white men could grow poppy here or could take over a place where it was grown, say Afghanistan, and reap profits while killing off their customers. I'm sure they would.

One of my friends in Durham sent me information about a hearing by the Durham County Commission for the real estate transfer tax. The forwarded email included the following, which I think you will find very interesting.