Gas and Go smoke em if you got em. Taxes.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Let me see if I can simplify the tax thing.

On a pack of cigarettes, or other tobacco products, there is an excise tax that is a flat rate that is different from state to state usually based on the item sold...as in there is a $1.41 excise tax on a pack of 20 cigarettes in the state of Texas.

That excise tax is added to the pack price which is then taxed with sales tax.  As the price of cigarettes fluctuates (that means goes up and down) the total amount of the pack of cigarettes changes because sales tax is a percentage that includes state, and possibly, local taxes.

Again. The argument from the top, be it about smokes, or gas, or any product we by, toilet paper, soda, anything. The argument  from the top is always "If you raise taxes we have to pass that down to the consumer. Of course in business theory of course, there is no point in owning a business if you don't make a profit. I get that. Even outside of business, if your rent goes up, there will be a potential point where you decide you cant afford the rent. My point is with the top, the uber billionaires, not the middle or working class, not the mom and pop shops. 

But at this moment in time, I have no sympathy for Amazon or Jeff Bezos or Zuckerburg. 

14cents on a gallon of gas isn't bankrupting the buyer, the gouging by the private corporation which charges you more than the sate does is hurting you. Depending on local today, 3 or 4 or 5 dollars per gallon, isn't a charge on tax, the tax per gallon is tiny compared to what the private company gets.

What you don’t seem to realize is that it isn’t the amount of tax - on anything - that bothers conservatives, but that tax exists at all. Not all conservatives feel this way, but you couldn’t swing a dead cat at a conservative get together without hitting at least a couple who do.

The next time you get in a row with these types, you can point out that in New Zealand, petrol is USD$6.60/gallon, about 1/3 of which is taxes. In exchange for this, we get (mostly) free healthcare and no car insurance requirements.

Boru