Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Had Enough! Tuesday Tirade & Some Goofy Shit
Exercise: 50 pushups, 50 squats, 70 leglifts, and 300 crunches :)
You know I think I've heard more than I care to about Iowa's new cigarette tax. I wasn't even going to bother mentioning it here, but with all the bitching about it that doesn't seem to cease, I'm going to throw in my $.02.
On a personal level (meaning affects only Chi and me), I don't really give a shit if the state raises the tax on cigs or not. Neither of us smoke and since our health insurance costs are about 1/30th what the average couple pays, the tax really doesn't make much difference to us.
I think what amazes me most about the frenzy over this topic is how irrational people's behavior becomes. I mean I actually had someone go off on me for somehow being personally responsible for the raise just because I voted for Culver and I don't smoke. The most insane part about this is:
1.) I didn't vote for Culver because of this issue. In fact, it played NO part in my decision.
2.) This person had no idea where I even stood on the issue to begin with and just chose to start attacking me without provocation.
3.) My district representative who actually got to vote on the bill voted AGAINST it.
Like I said, I really don't care either way about it, however, I can't help but laugh at some of the illogical ranting and behavior all this has caused. For example:
1.) People driving to Missouri to "save" money.
This one totally cracks me up! I mean let's think about this for a minute. Right now gas is $2.54/gal here. Most cars people are driving average somewhere in the 20 - 35mpg range. To drive from where I live to the state line and back is about 200 miles roundtrip. Now let's say your car gets about 30mpg. At that rate, it would take about 7 gallons of gas for the trip. Multiply that by $2.54 and you get about $17. Ok, so that's the gas down. Now to figure wear and tear on the vehicle. I believe the current IRS figure is something like $.39/mile if you subtract out the fuel costs that are included in the IRS number. If you do the calculation for that, you come up with about $77. Add that to your fuel expense, that trip to save a buck or two ends up really costing about $94 just for the drive.
Now let's see, even for a pack a day smoker, $94 would pay the tax increase for three months. What this means is in order for the trip to be profitable, you would have to purchase enough cigarettes for the savings to be more than $100. Not only is this illegal (and yes, I know the chances of getting caught are slim), it means that (based on a rough calculation) you would have to buy at least 5 cartons but probably more like 8 or 9. The thing is, it seems to be the people in the low income brackets that this is effecting most. Now what I want to know is, if they can't afford to pay $1/pack extra here in Iowa, how in the hell are they going to come up with over $200 for the extra gas money and the cigs in order to actually save money buying across the state line? My God with thinking like this, it's no wonder so many people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck and have an average credit card balance of $8000.
2.) Why don't they up the tax on alcohol too?
Obviously this question was raised without doing a little research first. I believe the current tax on a bottle of wine in this state is $.75/bottle. Each bottle yields 8 glasses of drink which means per serving, you pay about $.09 tax. The tax on cigs in Iowa is now $1.36 and you get 20/pack. If you calculate that out, each cig carries not quite $.07 tax. In reality, bitching about the drinkers not paying enough is worthless because those consumers are already paying more. Not to mention, wine has been shown to actually have some health benefit - something absolutely NO doctor would ever say about a cig.
3.) Culver is just doing this to balance the budget and use the extra funds for purposes they weren't intended for.
Well, if those of you saying this had actually read the bill which was signed into law, you would see it clearly states that those funds can only be used for purpose spelled out in the law so Culver can't use them for anything else.
4.) Culver's a failure. The new law is generating revenue for Missouri, not Iowa.
Even if people are going out of state to buy, Iowa is still gaining because of the increased gas consumption. Then we also have the people from Minnesota. The tax is higher up there so you can bet that those who live close to the boarder more than likely come here to buy cigs instead. Of course my guess is that people are going to tire of the drive to Missouri and will just start buying here if they continue to smoke and because of that, the money will be generated. I mean Christ, it's only been a month. Once the "novelty" wears off, it will be back to the same old same old.
5.) The tax isn't fair because it puts the burden on a minority of people, many of whom don't have much money.
While I agree it's not fair to single one group out and lay a heavy tax on them, I see the difference in this case being that anyone falling in this group can choose to quit smoking and not pay the extra tax. I mean this gripe is equivalent to me moving into a house in a prominent area and then bitching that the taxes are too high. RIDICULOUS! I knew what I was getting in to when I bought the damn thing and I could have chosen to pay less by going to a different area.
Speaking of things I've had enough of - COLD WEATHER!
It had been so nice the last week or so but today it was like we backed up and returned to late February/early March. Yesterday when I came out of work, it was 60 degrees. Today, a whopping 38. BRRRRRR!!!
Oh and what's the deal with the hellacious storm last night that woke me up at 2:30 in the morn? According to what was being said on the 10pm weather reports, it sounded like we weren't going to get much of anything here. Yah NOT! I woke up to lightning so damn bright it lit up our room like the sun and thunder so fucking loud it sounded like the widows were going to bust. I love storms but in the wee hours of the morning during the work week? Not so much.
Next up - something weird....
Saturday as I was getting ready to go to my parents' house, I took my rings off and noticed that not only my wedding band but also my engagement band had somehow managed to get bent. What's so odd is that I don't remember them being like that the day before nor do I remember anything that would smash them. I mean the wedding band is almost a perfect oval it's so squashed. Hopefully, they'll be easily fixed as they obviously hold a lot of sentimental value not to mention, I use them to hold my diamond ring on since it's a little big.
And now for something completely different.....
A long time ago there used to be this show which was aired in the wee hours of Sunday morning called Night Flight. I only got to watch it a handful of times but I remember seeing a clip on there that just made me laugh hysterically. For years I tried to find it on the web so I could see it again but with no luck. Well, last night I had read a post on a forum which reminded me of this show so I went looking for the clip again. Amazingly, I found it this time - thank God for You Tube! lol So I watched the short film again and it was funny yet didn't make me laugh as hard as the first time I saw it. Obviously, being a teen and severely needing sleep makes one find things funnier than they really are. hehe Anyway, I'm posting the link here so you, the reader, can have a look for yourself and determine the funny factor. :)
Juke-Bar
Otay - that be it from me for today.
Til next time.....
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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