Jim Doyle has always said he was for the poor people. Well, this tax hits poor people much harder than it does people with money. Tim pointed out a great point that there are people digging for change to pay for the cigarettes. It's a choice to smoke. It's a choice to eat a big mac. It's a choice to drink. The government should have to tax us to quit. To tax us because it's bad for us. We know that what we do is bad. The government always feels that they have to be big brother and look out for us. Putting a tax on cigarettes isn't going to help anybody and it really is going to increase poverty and crime. This tax is suppose to off set health care cost. What ever happened to the 2 billion Wisconsin got for the lawsuit that we got from the cigarette companies? That was suppose to of set the health care expenses as well. The casinos will do better now since the Indians don't have to pay taxes on their cigarettes that will help Doyle next election.

Okay, you inspired me to do some research (well, you and an email from American Cancer Society's Advocacy Network!). I learned that the new budget included a 50% increase in funding for the state's Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program, which brings the funding to $15 million:
http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/tobacco/pdffil...

I only see a breakdown by county (and I don't have the time right now to read the whole report or interpret the charts), so how much of that goes to each community and how much is spent on adolescent prevention vs. adult cessation is a mystery to me!

My sister and her husband used to buy cartons of smokes when they came to visit WI from MI because they were so much cheaper here. Thankfully, they quit smoking because they thought paying upwards of $6 per pack of cigarettes in MI was ridiculous. And they are both earning over $30,000 per year, so income wasn't really a factor--it was just that they chose not to spend that much money on something that could potentially kill them. With that being said, I don't think MI is going to get too much of WI smokers' money after this increase! But I also agree with Tim about giving smokers the resources required to quit smoking so that they don't have to scrounge up pennies to pay for their addictions.

what about all the money wisconsin will lose to the border states?il,ia,mn and mi these states have lower prices would you as a smoker in janesville drive to SOUth Beloit to gets cigs if they are 8.00 per carton cheaper By the way fill you car while your there cause il tax on gas is also cheaper. FOod for thought. P.S> <---non smoker

good point rose. the problem is they can probably afford to use drugs cause theyre probally selling them too and dont have real jobs.

You're right about cost not being a good enough motivator for smokers to quit an addiction.
If it was, there would be no drug users or in-debt gamblers.

I don't have an answer.

Yep, its me. No, I am not a smoker - and I guess that's why I felt this blog was in order, because seeing these people in trouble was really troubling.

my guess is no because tim isnt sure if 8 or 10 packs in a carton.

I'm curious? Are you a smoker?