Missouri has the lowest state tax on cigarettes in the country, 17 cents a pack. On the other end, New York is $4.35. In New York City the total is $6.46. Yet another reason to view our state as backward. I have little tolerance for smoking. I did it myself when I was young and nobody knew better. The truth eventually got around and I've been off them for decades. Sure, the addiction is hard to beat but the alternative is slow suicide. Some defend smoking as an exercise in personal liberty but they add to my health insurance bill. The rest of us have to help pay for the consequences. My views are obviously strong but, still, I wonder how anyone in my culture can work for a tobacco company and live with themselves. But what would you do if you had been unemployed a long time, you were in danger of losing your home or couldn't feed your children, and you were offered a good job from R. J. Reynolds? None of this is simple.
This store is adjacent to the truck weigh station in last Monday's post, just south of the baseball stadium. It has been closed for a couple of years. We do, however, have a very active chain of shops in the area called Dirt Cheap Cigarettes and Liquor. It describes itself as the last refuge of the persecuted smoker.
This store is adjacent to the truck weigh station in last Monday's post, just south of the baseball stadium. It has been closed for a couple of years. We do, however, have a very active chain of shops in the area called Dirt Cheap Cigarettes and Liquor. It describes itself as the last refuge of the persecuted smoker.
This blog does advertise the occasional rant. Someone once left a comment complaining that there never were any. Well, we got one today.
