Don’t Tread on Pipe Tobacco or Anything Else
Just about every member of the pipe smoking community should already know about H.R. 4439, the Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010. It proposes to raise the tax on pipe tobacco 775% from $2.8311 to $24.78 per pound. Many of you have signed our Petition to Stop the Pipe Tobacco Tax. While I am quite pleased with the support the pipe community has shown in rallying against this bill, many of the comments, attitudes and opinions expressed have been disappointing and disheartening to say the least. We are thankful for the support, but we are frustrated with the finger-pointing, self-segregation of smokers and suggestions to tax other things that are Personal Lifestyle Choices. Those of us that enjoy pipe smoking are not happy about more and more taxes being placed on pipe tobacco. We also don’t like all the new smoking restrictions that keep popping up, especially the ludicrous restrictions against outdoor smoking and no smoking inside a tobacconist’s shop. Yes, there are some localities that have passed and proposed laws outlawing smoking indoors, including tobacco shops and smoking lounges. Most people that don’t smoke a pipe probably couldn’t care less, but they should. On a rare occasion we might find a non-smoker that actually believes in smoker’s rights and has a general "live-and-let-live" attitude. It amazes me how many pipe smokers do not have this philosophy. You want pipe smoking to be left alone, but you don’t mind pointing the finger to someone else’s personal choices.
Many of the comments placed on our petition gave the message to not tax pipe tobacco, but instead to tax other things like snack foods, soda, and alcohol … or other forms of tobacco, like manufactured cigarettes or roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco. Do you like donuts, sugared cereals, or sugared colas? How about Twinkies? Do you sometimes enjoy French fries, Hamburgers, or Hot dogs? Did you eat any of this stuff on Super Bowl Sunday perhaps? How about steak? Raise your hand if you like Steak! What about Pizza? What about Video Games? Anyone here own an XBox or PS2? Shouldn’t you be outside exercising instead of sitting on the couch playing a game? Well, you know what? It’s none of my Goddamn business and it’s nobody else’s either. It’s nobody’s business what any of our Personal Lifestyle Choices are. This is not meant to be a political website, but I am of the strong opinion that government should not try to regulate anything that is someone’s personal lifestyle choice. It doesn’t matter if someone says it’s bad for you. Lots of people say that pipe smoking is bad for you. Are you going to quit because of this? Do you think it is fair to have it taxed out of existence? There are even some people in the pipe community and pipe tobacco business that minimalized the situation by stating that this is not a big deal in real dollars and cents. Hey people, it doesn’t matter if you are a multi-millionaire, have your own private jet, and eat $100 lunches every day, and it doesn’t matter if "it’s less than 25¢ a bowl". This is how percentages come in handy – it’s a 775% increase! It’s the principle of the thing, but it IS also about the money. How many bowls do all of us smoke? How many pounds of pipe tobacco are produced in the US?
According to Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America. Pipe Tobacco Sales were 5.3 million pounds in 2008. $2.8311 x 5.3 million pounds of pipe tobacco = $15 million+ in taxes ($15,004,830 to be exact). $24.78 x 5.3 million pounds of pipe tobacco = $131 million+ in taxes ($131,334,000 to be exact). That’s an increase of $116,329,170. If you got a check for 1% of that, you would get over $1.1 million dollars. I’ll take that any day over 25¢ a bowl. Many of you already know how this started. Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children’s health insurance (S-CHIP), but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 a pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes. But tobacco companies quickly adapted. According to The Associated Press; as the tax was on the books, companies all but shut down their roll-your-own brands and reinvented them under a less-restricted, less-taxed category: pipe tobacco. It’s still destined to be rolled and smoked, but it’s taxed at barely a tenth the rate, $2.83 a pound. Here is the chart from the "TTB", the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau that shows the increases on tobacco taxes from S-CHIP. Notice that pipe tobacco already had a tax increase from $1.0969 per pound to $2.8311 per pound. March 2, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Pipes Magazine
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