Bless The Smokers And Drinkers...!

The next time you want to say something bad about the average Smoker or Drinker, you might want to consider this. The average smoker and sipper (including myself) contributes a LOT to the purses of the State and Federal governments in the form of taxes. How much, you say? I'm glad you asked that ! The answer just might surprise you!

The federal and state governments collected more than $21 billion in cigarette taxes in 2006, up from $13 in 1999. That's $21 billion dollars, folks! Now that is a lot of money! If everyone in the United States were to quit smoking today, the shortfall in the next state and federal budgets would certainly be felt!

The people that keep up with these things tell us that smokers are declining at the rate of 4% a year. I take it that they mean 4% have quit and not passed on. So to make sure that there is no loss of tax revenue, prices keep going up...and I mean in a BIG way! Just look at this and you'll see what I mean. These numbers are just for the state of Texas...

TOTAL CIGARETTE AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAXES

2006 - $545,904,191.12
2007 - $1,334,038,616.93
Tax increase- 144.4%

Now like I said, this is only for the state of Texas. All of the budgets are figured out with this tax revenue included, so if all the smokers decide to quit, where do you suppose the replacement revenue is going to come from?

But what about alcohol ? Well, believe it or not whether you drink a little or a lot you still can still be proud that you are kicking in a rather large chunk of change to the coffers of the state. They appreciate it, I'm sure!

According to a report issued by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in December, 2007 on the Per Capita Consumption and the tax revenue created breaks down like this....

Distilled Spirits

Total Tax Collections $5,469,081.00
Total Gallons 2,278,784
Per Capita Consumption 0.0974
Tax Rate Per Gallon $2.40
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Wine

Total Tax Collections $1,014,139.00
Total Gallons(Estimated) 3,812,653
Per Capita Consumption(Estimated) 0.1630
Tax Rate Per Gallon(Estimated) $0.265993
Low Wine $0.204
High Wine $0.408
Sparkling Wine $0.516
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Beer

Total Tax Collections $9,030,426.00
Total Gallons 46,657,294
Per Capita Consumption 1.9951
Tax Rate Per Gallon $0.193548
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Ale

Total Tax Collections $612,373.00
Total Gallons 3,092,793
Per Capita Consumption 0.1322
Tax Rate Per Gallon $0.198
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By the way, the state's estimate of of the population: 23,386,278. This is the figure for the year 2007! So the next time you think only bad thoughts about the people that smoke or drink, just try and remember these figures. You again might ask yourself "If they all quit today, where is the tax revenue going to come from?"

It would be just my luck for them to start taxing coffee like this, ya know? C'mon, we better get a cup before they raise the price!!!