Rokers redders van Amerikaanse staatskassen
Hoewel rokers in de VS inmiddels gedegradeerd zijn tot tweederangs burgers, worden hun bijdragen aan de schatkisten van de staten erg op prijs gesteld.
They’re pariahs in restaurants, outcasts in offices, and taxed to the max on their cigarette habit, but smokers are coming to the rescue of state budgets.
“It’s almost like a new apartheid. Instead of being race it’s habit,” said Neil McGregor, owner of Port Royal, a tobacco shop in Toledo, Ohio, who was part of a group that successfully battled a county health department-imposed smoking ban last year. “And it’s being demonized with the huge amount of money that came from the tobacco settlement.”
Wanneer gaan de rokers gebruik maken van deze economische machtspositie en de staten dwingen meer rekening te houden met hun belangen?
