New York has the highest cigarette tax in the nation and it is continuing to grow. They are calling it a success because the number of calls to the state’s Smoker’s Quitline quadrupled when the $2.75-a-pack tax took effect, damn. They are trying to give New York smokers multiple reasons to stop and these ridiculously high prices would do it for me.

On June 3, the cig tax jumped from $1.25 to $2.75 a pack! Cigarettes in the state range anywhere from $6 to $8 per pack depending on brand and particular store. New York City even has its own tax and prices are as high as $10 a pack. New Jersey is the highest at the moment with a $2.58 tax. The quitline upped it kits to quit smoking from 1,722 to 7,900 in just a year due to the tax. I guess options for New Yorkers would be to buy out of state or online… or just quit altogether cause I could never justify $10 for 20 cigs. That’s steep.

President Bish better have my money. I’ve heard that “check is in the mail” shit before. hell, I probably said it a time or two. Well, our president says that they’re ahead of schedule. President Bish, in an attempt to raise his public profile and prevent a lynching once he leaves office in January, is giving us, the American taxpayer (well…most of us), a little payback…in the good way. because, you know, we’re not already in debt for trillions of dollars. Schwarzenegger’s going to cut funding to California schools to the tune o 4 billion dollars. Here’s Your Mad Money! Yay! America! Fuck Yeah! Where’s my money, Bish!?

President Bish Quoted From Washington Post:

Good morning. It’s obvious our economy is in a slowdown. Fortunately, we recognized the signs early and took action. I signed an economic growth package that will provide tax rebates to millions of American families and workers to boost consumer spending. On Monday, the Treasury Department will begin delivering the first of these tax rebates by direct deposit. During the first week alone nearly 7.7 million Americans will receive their tax rebates electronically. Then on May 9th, the IRS will begin mailing checks to millions more across America.

Wesley Snipes is pissed. I get $600. The world is still fucked. This whole thing is retarded and will not work. But thanks for the cash anyway. More good news Idiocy after the jump. (more…)

(Photo from Bossip.)

Homeboy could slay a vampire, but not his taxes. Actor Wesley Snipes has been sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, having been found guilty on “three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file federal tax returns.”

From the Sacramento Bee:

Snipes made a $5 million payment to the treasury on Thursday, but prosecutors called it a grandstanding move.
“It”ll be a fraction of what he owes,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Scotland Morris, who made the argument for the government.
Morris said a rough estimate of Snipes’ outstanding tax liability, with penalties and interest, will exceed $20 million.
“Snipes’ long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal clear message to all tax defiers that if they engage in similar tax defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants, Kahn and Rosile, as inmates in prison,” said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, in a news release.

Isn’t that how Capone went down? Now the only thing up for debate is whether Snipes will be a top or a bottom. (I’m or course referring to bunk bed options…)

This is the first time in awhile I’ve been ashamed of being a Democrat.  A lopdick state assemblyman by the name of Jim Beall is proposing in a new bill to increase the tax on a can or bottle of beer from the current $.02 to $.30, making a six pack $1.80 more expensive:

The people who use alcohol should pay for part of the cost to society, just like we’ve accepted that concept with tobacco,” Beall said.

Beall has already successfully convinced the Franchise Tax Board to raise the taxes on so-called “Alco-pops,” the sweet tasting malt beers that teenaged dudes in Willows use to get high school girls drunk enough to let them touch some whiskers by $2 a sixpack, an increase that will take effect later this year.

According to Drudge, the Clintons paid over $33 million dollars in federal taxes on $109 million in income  for the tax years 2000 to 2007. They also gave over $10 million to charity. The sad part is, that’s really not even that impressive by today’s standards. And it’s really not any different from Republican candidate John McCain, except in McCain’s case, the money is pretty much all his wife’s:

As heiress to her father’s stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal, and her connections helped him start his political career - even if the millions remain in her name alone. Yet the arm’s-length distance between McCain and his wife’s assets also has helped shield him from conflict-of-interest problems.

Must be nice.

New York City Mayor, and self proclaimed “not a candidate” for President came out swinging against the recently passed economic stimulus legislation today, saying that the $600-$12oo rebate checks to be paid to American taxpayers as part of the stimulus is “like giving a drink to an alcoholic”

“Nobody wants to sit there and say, ‘Well there’s no easy solution,”‘ Bloomberg said. “They want to send out a check to everybody to stimulate the economy. I suppose it won’t hurt the economy but it’s in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic.”

He also noted that the US “has a balance sheet that’s starting to look more and more like a third-world country” but added that his comments were just part of an “experiment” in trying to shape the debate for this year’s election. Experiment eh?