Taxing Our Nerves and Patience
It has always been my firm belief that you CANNOT tax a nation into prosperity. Now while I try very hard not to publicly take sides in the political arena, it is a well-known fact that democrats like to raise taxes. They like big government control and those of us who have leaned to the Libertarian side of the aisle, deplore this notion.
Our new president is proposing some swell new taxes that will make all our paychecks a bit smaller and our wallets a bit thinner. Many argue that we need to raise taxes – how else will we pay down our debt? But just look at the unemployment rate, the people who are losing jobs at an alarming clip, and the rate of foreclosures… then tell me that it’s a good idea for the government to take even more of the people’s hard earned money right now.
One way the politicos like to get money is by going after people’s pleasures in life. The tobacco taxes are insane as cigarettes are now around eight bucks a pack and our precious cigars are becoming harder to buy. And now in New Jersey, Billionaire democrat governor, Jon Corzine has just raised the tax on alcohol 25%. That is horrendous. Please, somebody – anybody, tell me where all the billions go from our state lottery. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation. I have a 2,500 sq. ft house, an acre of property, I live in the wooded area of the northwest part of the state… and my yearly property taxes are… $12,000. Yes you in the south and mid west read that right – I pay $12,000 a year in property tax.
“You’re crazy…why don’t you just move?” I hear this b.s. all of the time. Oh yeah, it’s that easy to do, right. My daughter starts college in a month a half hour from our home, my son will be a freshman in high school, I LOVE my home, I live in a beautiful part of the state… but I should just pick up and go. It just doesn’t work that way.
Let’s get back to the alcohol tax. A 25% increase is a monster hike. Many bar and restaurant owners claim they won’t pass it on to their customers, but how the hell long can they keep that up? Not very long, I say. Corzine claims it will generate 22 million dollars per year for the state, but I think it could turn a lot of alcoholics sober. Or, people are going to start buying considerably cheaper booze just to put themselves out of their misery. Hey, I know as a fact that people are starting to purchase less expensive cigars for the same reasons.
I was at a bbq party this past weekend and by midnight there was a group of seriously shit-faced folks gathered around my friend’s pool. He looked at me and said that everyone he knows is drinking heavier than ever before just to get through life. You know, I think he’s right. With the new regime’s Socialist Republic gaining momentum, I really started to see the comparison to old-school Russia… so many are out of work, the government wants control of healthcare and other onetime capitalist freedoms, and now we’re drinking unfiltered rot-gut vodka from the moment we get home from a days work at the cement plant, just to get through another day. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the line starts at 10pm for rolls of Charmin over at the town hall. Come on Mr. Whipple, one roll ain’t enough to wipe my enlarges buttocks, so fork it over.
Comrades – this malarkey is getting scarier by the day. So what’s the answer? Beats the hell out of me – I just came here to gripe, today.
I love good scotch, higher end vodka, sumptuous wines, and other libations of the finer nature. I love enjoying a nice pour with a good cigar on my back patio after I eat dinner. I don’t want to give that up. Please, I beg of you, I love these little pleasures of life and I don’t want them taken away. I don’t want to drink kerosene flavored swill, smoke short-filler crapola, and wait ten years for a root canal if I need one. I want things the way they used to be, dammit. I want my god damned AMERICA back!
So…anybody got a bright idea, out there?
Viva la Revolution,
Tommy Z.
JR Cigars Blog With the Zman
