I wondered if you and your readers are aware of California’s Prop 99? It proposes a 73% tax increase on pipe tobacco and cigars–which are already taxed at a relatively high 31% in this state. Even worse, the money will not go into the state’s general fund (which would at least help reduce our $10BIL deficit) but instead create a “cancer research” bureaucracy. What, exactly, do they hope to learn? Is there anybody seriously questioning the link between tobacco and cancer? Do bureaucrats *really* believe that in this day and age, people only make negative health decisions based on a lack of information? People are paying upwards of $10 for a pack of cigarettes in some states, and plenty of poor people still spend a very significant portion of their income on smoking. I don’t personally care for cigarettes, but I am sympathetic to cigarette smokers’ plight: for many, this really is their only luxury. They can’t afford fine wine or organic food. You will never tax an addictive habit out of existence; in fact, the extreme taxation has created a black market (similar to the prohibition of alcohol) that has proven to be a very lucrative new funding source for organized crime. Unintended consequences…

I hope this will serve as a warning to the rest of the country. Don’t think that our minority status as pipe smokers makes us invisible to legislators. If anything, it makes us an easier target.

Thanks.