Smokers to unfairly bear deficit burden In the
midst of a financial crisis, the California state Legislature has
found an easy way to try to balance the budget: Pick on the little
guy. The California budget for 2002-2003 will almost certainly
include an increase of the tax on cigarettes from 87 cents to $3,
creating a revenue source that will be primarily funded by the 46.6
percent of smokers who make less than $20,000 a year. Originally,
some members of the state Legislature wanted to raise the
state’s Vehicle License Fee, but Republicans opposed it. Herb
Wesson (D-Los Angeles/Culver City), the sponsor of the proposal,
has singled out the smoking community because no one wins a
campaign by protecting smokers’ interests. Wesson’s
proposal reeks of political hypocrisy as much as it infringes on
personal liberties. Tobacco companies are currently facing state
lawsuits ““ and paying for one’s they have already lost
““ because they refuse to admit their products are dangerous
to the consumer’s health. But if the consumer has been
deceived, why, then, is the state taxing them? After all, according
to these lawsuits, the customer is the victim. They were misled at
some point and are now suffering addiction, lung cancer, emphysema
or other diseases. The state is suing on behalf of those it has
singled out in this new tax. Equally as troublesome as
California’s conflicting mission of both
“protecting” and punishing smokers is the casual nature
with which the state imposes laws governing behavior. As long as
tobacco is legal, people have a right to smoke; they have a right
to make decisions about their own health just as public
establishments have the right to ban smoking in enclosed areas to
protect others’ health. Smokers have been scapegoats numerous
times in the past; they often face new taxes to fund programs with
no correlation whatsoever to smoking, such as early education
development programs and breast cancer research. The state
shouldn’t exploit one population by capitalizing on private
decisions. If the state needs money, it should pick the pockets of
those who have it, not a population in which almost half of its
members are considered poor.
Another stoppage affects fans most Major league
baseball players will hurt themselves more than anyone else if they
decide and strike on Aug. 30, as announced last week. If the
players strike again this year, baseball will be averaging about
one work stoppage every three years since 1972. The game has hardly
recovered from the last strike in 1994, and unless there is another
two-manned assault on something as acclaimed as a 37-year-old home
run record ““ virtually impossible after the 73 home runs
Barry Bonds hit just last year ““ the game is looking at an
even longer road to recovery this time around. Owners are proposing
a luxury tax on payrolls over $102 million (which would force
high-spending teams to pay a portion of salaries above this amount
to low-revenue teams), a minimum payroll of $45 million, and a
revised revenue sharing system to ensure all teams at least have
the potential of being competitive each year. Meanwhile, the
players want the luxury tax threshold set at $130 million, oppose
any kind of a minimum payroll, and are opposed to significant
changes in the revenue sharing system. None of the players bother
to mention, of course, that even with a luxury tax threshold of
$102 million, a team exceeding that amount would be paying each of
its 25 players an average of $4.08 million, or more than double the
average player’s salary. And a minimum payroll only
guarantees small market teams will invest in its players. Owners,
though, can’t have it all ““ they’re going to have
to loosen up their pockets and pay the players, because, after all,
without star players no one is going to come to the ballparks in
significant numbers. Either way, the fans will end up losing. After
Sept. 11 last year, baseball seemed to have a healing effect on a
public caught up in Bonds’ home run chase and an exciting
World Series. No one seems to care anymore even as Sept. 11’s
one year anniversary approaches. If this labor dispute isn’t
resolved soon, the fans will have better things to do in the
meanwhile. Like watch the Little League World Series
““Â at least they are still playing for the love of the
game.