In CA, Prop 29 Votes Still Being Tallied (Cig Tax)

[stopbush]

Prop 29 Votes Still Being Tallied
Uncounted absentee ballots keeping cigarette tax hike possibility alive in California
CSP Daily News | June 20, 2012

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- More than 300,000 uncounted ballots in a California tax referendum may dictate the future of Proposition 29, which seeks to more than double the taxes on a pack of cigarettes in the Golden State, according to a Bloomberg report.

On June 6, Secretary of State Debra Bowen's California Presidential Primary Election website showed that with 100% of precincts reporting, 50.8% of voters voted against the ballot measure, while 49.2% voted in favor of the ballot measure. It was initially behind by about 63,000 votes of 3.9 million cast June 5.

But counting of absentee ballots has narrowed the margin to 17,571 as of Tuesday, with about 371,000 untallied, according to the Secretary of State's office.

http://www.cspnet.com/news/tobacco/articles/prop-29-votes-still-being-tallied

[left on green only]

1. No Kidding?! You have really made my night. I had no idea.

I thought it was an over and done event. I wonder if the tobacco companies took the lead from the rethugs and rigged the vote? But I guess now that it is down to counting the absentee ballots, there isn't much they can do, besides rig (burn or make disappear) the bags of absentee ballots.

[Politicalboi]

2. Tax the drinkers

Leave us smokers ALONE. We get stuck with these extra taxes all the fucking time, all the while booze gets a pass. They even get to sell their shit on TV STILL. When are they going to make them stop? "Drink our shit and win the girls" as the girl sucks on the ice cube. Disgusting. Now lets make these speed drinks with cool looking cans that gets the kids eyes. All getting them set to drink booze.

I hope someday, big alcohol feels the wrath of alcoholics who sue them over their product. Put a 50 cent tax on a can of beer, or $3.00 a six pack tax. Let their taxes pay for the children of alcoholics who have been abused by their shit. Children who learned how to say Bud-wis-er by 3 cute frogs, but Joe Camel is the fucking devil. Let's see, a cold beer on a table with a cigarette burning. Which do you think the 7 year old is going to pick up and take a taste?

BTW neither of my parents drank. I'm just sick and tired of seeing booze commercials on when they too should be banned. Alcohol is worse than smoking.

[Deep13]

3. But it's a voluntary tax.

Alcohol is not certain to kill you, though I agree about the ads. Drunks abuse children directly, smokers indirectly by 2nd hand smoke exposure. I frankly question why bars have parking lots. A 7 year old will try them both.

[demosincebirth]

4. Couple of my friends died of alcoholism...it certainly did kill them. nt.

[Deep13]

5. Sorry to hear that and I do not doubt it.

I know alcohol can kill, either slowly over decades or all at once from alcohol poisoning. That is to say nothing of alcohol-induced violence or auto collisions. I only meant it is not a certainty. Many people drink a little with no real adverse affects. On the other hand, if nothing else kills you first, smoking definitely will. There is no way to "smoke responsibly."

[stopbush]

6. I lost my dad and both grandfathers to cancers caused by smoking.

Having taxes raised on your cigarettes is the last thing you should be worrying about.

Seriously. Playing the, "yeah, but this is worse" game is like downplaying the ability of bullets to kill compared to mortar fire.

If people hadn't left smokers alone for all those years, my dad might still be here. A lot of the money raised from that cig tax would go towards getting people like you to stop and keeping kids from starting.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. This is just to punish smokers.

The revenues are dedicated to anti-smoking research, not the general fund.

I currently pay California about $500 a year in tobacco taxes. They want to double it to about $1000. Ain't gonna happen. I'll drive to Nevada once a month before I pay another buck a pack. Or, hell, maybe I'll even quit.