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VonBonfire
Well-known member
$1200 is enough to stay home from work and drink maxwell house and smoke cheap cigars for a month plus one of them big jars of beer on fridays. A month paid vacation just by not drinking fancy coffee for a year. Pretty much why I quit buying Newports. $10 every 1 or 2 days.
Dan Gleesak
Well-known member
Marlboro lights are like $14 a back now. That’s a lotta coffee!
Thumbpicker
Well-known member
You won’t believe how much cigarettes are here. The are like $70 aud a pack or something. Not exaggerating either.
Thumbpicker
Well-known member
I haven’t tried it but it sounds nice. We have very little Cuban or Latino influence here. We just have penguins to our southespresso; ditch the milk foam.
ever try Cubano coffee? it's like espresso but they froth a sugar layer on top. Used to live in South Florida, one of my work locations was in Miami (pre-2000), and every afternoon we'd have Cubano coffee, 2-3 and it was tough to sit at my desk.
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Dan Gleesak
Well-known member
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
Just under 10 bucks a pack here for Marbs. You should save some money if you grab a couple cartons in OK this summer.
Taxes no doubt. While you were busy crying about American tariffs you should've been looking at your koala chieftains. I bet you can get a Foster's for cheap tho.
JackBootedThug
MURDERATOR
I have an idea. I start shipping you smokes and you sell them. 50/50… what say you mate?
Thumbpicker
Well-known member
Seriously there is a huge trade in illegal smokes here - mostly from China. The cost of cigarettes is nearly entirely due to Govt Taxes to dissuade people from smoking. It's sort of the cigarette version of the US 1930s prohibition.
Mind you there is Sum Ting Wong with Chinese Cigarettes.
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
Is liquor expensive there? I like Tobacco Barn cause they have a drive through window I can knock out both items with one stop and not even get out my truck. I was out in West Texas and there was a liquor store you just drive into the pole barn and they hook you up, you pay, and drive out the other side. Pretty cool.
Floyd Eye
Well-known member
I smoke 24/7 full flavor shorts. It's like $23/carton. I buy them 4 at a time and it's like $90.
@Thumbpicker, in the US a carton has 10 packs. So it's like $90 for 40 packs.
@Thumbpicker, in the US a carton has 10 packs. So it's like $90 for 40 packs.
Thumbpicker
Well-known member
Fairly expensive yes - especially at the pub.
I can see a case of Tooheys New Beer is $61 for 24 x 375ml cans.
so USD40 for 2 dozen cans of very average cheap beer.
Monkey Man
Super Moderator
We had this entire conversation roughly a year ago (I'm guessing).
Brother Thumbpicker's saying exactly what I said back then... 'cause it's true.
Some in the gubment, like the NSW Premiere, have at least put the question as to a possible link between the ridiculously-inflated tobacco pricing and the black market out-there recently. I mean, duh. Insane situation.
We smokers pay 20 or more times back in taxes than what we cost the health system. That's a cash cow right there.
Brother Thumbpicker's saying exactly what I said back then... 'cause it's true.
Some in the gubment, like the NSW Premiere, have at least put the question as to a possible link between the ridiculously-inflated tobacco pricing and the black market out-there recently. I mean, duh. Insane situation.
We smokers pay 20 or more times back in taxes than what we cost the health system. That's a cash cow right there.
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JDs Couch
Well-known member
Congrats man. I'm about 5 years mortgage free. Great feeling.I don’t have a mortgage either. I paid the house I live in and the one I bought for my daughter off about 6 months ago.
J
JDs Couch
Well-known member
That's smart, and also why smoking rates in Australia are half that of the USanians.
J
JDs Couch
Well-known member
High taxes on a harmful item is very different from making it illegal.
J
JDs Couch
Well-known member
In 2015-16, the estimated cost of smoking to Australian society was $137 billion, encompassing both tangible costs (like healthcare and lost productivity) and intangible costs (like pain and suffering). This cost significantly exceeds the tax revenue generated from tobacco sales.
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
A tax amounts to punishment for higher risk behaviors. That isn't how a free society operates.
I don't see how on the one hand we are told earth is overpopulated then on the other government punishes people for killing themselves with high taxes. It's just a grift for states to bilk people out of extra dough and on average those people are of lower incomes, which makes it a net negative.
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JDs Couch
Well-known member
In civilized countries where health care is universal, it absolutely makes sense.
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VonBonfire
Well-known member
I can see that, but that isn't here. Also, if Aussie smokers are paying in more than it costs then the tax should be reduced if you are concerned about fairness and equality.