anon3c67

But now that smokers make up a smaller portion of the population than
they did decades ago, some bar and restaurant owners are shifting
their perceptions of the standard. And although still a minority here,
totally smoke-free environments are a rising trend.

http://onmilwaukee.com/bars/articles/smokefreescene.html?18049

alt.smokers.cigars

Wisconsin is, supposedly, rather close to passing a statewide ban, like
Illinois and Minnesota. The Democrats control both branches of the
legislature and the governor's office, and are in support of a ban...the
only thing that will stop it is if it is believed that tobacco sales will
plummet and take tax revenues with it.

D

anon3c67

Which didn't happen in other states.

steady eddy

We will just raise the taxes to make up for any loss in revenue

anon3c67

It's not about nonsmokers' rights. It's not about smokers' rights.
It's about employees.

More proof smokers can't think past their addiction.

mickey

Raising taxes always results in lowered revenue. Look it up.

anon3c67

Not if you keep doing it.

And, with nicotine addicts, all bets are off.

They are going to get their drug.

bart goddard

Every so often I get assigned to teach an "Applicable Math
for Business and Social Sciences" course. (It's not a course
we fight over, but I kind of like teaching it, even though I
have to relearn, each time, terms like "marginal cost".)

The math is pretty simple. The price-demand functions are
linear and so the profit function is an upside-down parabola.
If we can get these business majors to understand that
upside-down parabola, we've won.

So I draw the St. Louis Arch. The left foot is the proft
you get if you charge just enough per item to cover your
costs. Then as you raise the price, you move right and
your profit goes up. For a while. Then it starts going
down. At some point, you hit the right foot, and that's
when you're charging so much that you sell only enough
items to cover your cost again. If you raise some more,
then you start losing money.

If you're charging $1000 for a glass of lemonade, you're
going to lose money.

This point happens even sooner if you're foolish enough to
drive people to the black market. Raising sin taxes not
only brings in less money, it provides another revenue stream
for your favorite scary gang.

It surprises me that so many people think that economic
curves are straight lines, when everything on the planet
is curvy or even fractal. "We'll just raise the taxes..."
Cripes.

B.

--
Cheerfully resisting change since 1959.

anon3c67

It's not a parabola. It's a catenary.

alt.smokers.cigars

I highly doubt that that is true for property taxes and gasoline taxes, as
people don't sell their house for a cheaper one to pay less taxes, nor do
they cut back on their driving enough to pay less taxes.

D