Opinion: Cigarette tax boost would hurt the less affluent

The proposed 50-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes shows that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride is insensitive to both the middle- and lower-middle economic class that supposedly makes up the majority of his party's base, as well as the elderly retired people in our state.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the proposed tax, just like our wonderful lottery, will have its greatest impact on the middle- and lower-middle economic classes. Like it or not, they are the majority of our smokers. Not only do these people make up the bulk of the smokers (so they'll have to pay the bulk of the taxes) but they are the ones least able to afford it. As with the lottery, these millions of tax dollars will take food directly out of kids' mouths and clothes off their backs.

When I grew up, the Democrats were the ones who claimed they were the more socially conscious party. I don't read a lot of Democrat propaganda. Does McBride claim that? Does McBride really think the single mom, whose tobacco habit takes $40 of her $235 take-home pay, will vote for a guy who wants to raise that to $50 a week?

Who else would be impacted by this tax? The elderly! Our parents and grandparents who grew up with cigarette commercials and ads enticing them to light up. The group that got cigarettes with their C-rations in World War II. The group that lives on a fixed income, unable to afford the tobacco addiction as it is. Now they learn that Democrat McBride is going to make them dig deeper in their pockets to pay for this habit they can't kick. Are they going to touch the new voting screen by his name?

The Times suggests the tax is good (as it does with all taxes) and will lower the number of smokers. But this is an addiction. This is not something everybody can just quit. All of us who have been able to quit know how hard it was to do.

Yes, we need to discourage smoking. But punishing the innocent children and people who are simply addicted is not the answer.
-- Rob Hoskins, Safety Harbor

A step in the right direction

Re: McBride rolls out tobacco tax plan, April 13.

Finally, a candidate for public office at the state level who is willing to put some money where his mouth is! The recent survey by the Times clearly showed that Floridians also are okay with that idea.

Granted, Bill McBride's proposal for a cigarette tax increase, along with a repeal of some sales tax exemptions, is not enough to completely resuscitate education in Florida. But it is a forward step in that these new tax dollars will be tied to specific remedial needs -- reducing class size and providing higher wages to attract working adults into the field of teaching where an acute shortage currently exists.

Currently, my choice for the Democratic candidate for governor is Janet Reno. However, if she does not soon get on McBride's bandwagon regarding the identification of specific dollar revenues for specific educational improvements, I will "jump ship" because in this election the only issue is education, education, education!

Since the governor can only propose policy, to make real change occur in education we also have to have state legislators who will support the use of general revenue dollars for real education reform. That requires all Florida voters to support the candidate in their district -- regardless of political party -- who clearly demonstrates a commitment to bring real improvement to Florida education.

Sorry Jeb, but our education system is in crisis thanks to the bipartisan lack of effort on the part of Democrats and Republicans over the last 15 years.
-- Dr. Wallace F. Witham, teacher, Belleair Bluffs

Campaign ammunition for Gov. Bush

Re: McBride's trifecta, April 16.

Unlike the Times, I see Bill McBride's proposed cigarette tax as a nail in the Democrat's coffin. As a Republican, I had hoped that Janet Reno would defeat McBride for the Democratic nomination, feeling that McBride might have an outside chance of catching Jeb Bush.

Not anymore. At the meeting of Ultra-Leftists in Orlando, McBride contradicted the goose-stepping line of liberals denouncing the Republican tax cuts "for the rich," by advocating a tax on the poor! Think about it. What are the demographics of smokers? Most are poor and lower-middle class, blue collar laborers. The group that can ill afford more taxes.

I can see Jeb Bush pounding McBride over this "poor man's tax" in campaign ads. When he gets through, he will have every poor working stiff so mad at McBride and the Democrats that Bush will win in a landslide!

Thanks, Bill! You have made this Republican very happy. By the way, I do not smoke.
-- David Manning, Dunedin

Education is everyone's responsibility

So Bill McBride wants to impose a 50-cents-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes and use the revenue for education. Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to raise money for such a noble purpose, but why should the burden fall upon just 20 to 25 percent of the population, when education is everyone's responsibility?

Instead of smokers, maybe McBride could single out the recreational fishermen and impose a 50-cents-per-dozen tax on the bait shrimp they buy. Or maybe the vegetarians should pay. How about a 50-cents-per-can tax on vegetable soup at the supermarket?

The point is that the education of our youth is everyone's responsibility, and therefore, the tax burden for education should fall upon everyone equally. One segment of society should not be singled out to bear the brunt of any new tax plan. McBride needs to rethink this idea, and come up with something better.
-- Kenneth R. Gilde, St. Petersburg

No more tax increases

Re: McBride rolls out tobacco tax plan, April 13.

Democrat Bill McBride has offered a prescription for the state's education woes with a 50-cent-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes. That means we will be paying 83.9-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes. I say McBride is out of line in his proposal. Let's bring this to the polls to vote on. I moved down to Florida from New York last August to get away from high taxes to live a better and easier life here in Florida.

What about all the money generated from the lottery that is supposed to go to state education? Something just doesn't seem right with McBride's ideas. And I'm sure he will not be a favorable candidate for the upcoming election.

We don't want any more tax increases. The schools should be cutting corners in their budgets if they don't have enough money. As a former school employee in New York, I know there is a lot of wasted spending in the school system.
-- Michael J. Kowalik, Spring Hill

Putting the people first

Re: McBride's trifecta.

How refreshing to read an editorial about a political candidate in Florida who seems to have the interest of the state's people in mind and not his own ego, special interests, big business or lobbyists.

With few choices out there for governor, I hope fellow Floridians will vote and elect a visionary who will take us up in education and not down further than we already rank.
-- Jose Luis Perez, St. Petersburg

Pope should look beyond U.S.

Re: Pope summons cardinals to discuss abuse scandal, April 16.

How dare the pope focus only on the United States when examining pedophilia in the Catholic clergy. It is an insult to our open society and our free press to imagine that pederasty among clergymen exists only in the United States. It is a historic problem common among masculine-dominated authorities. Italy, France, Germany, Ireland and South America also require some examination.
-- Mary T. Dresser, Clearwater

How far do we go?

Re: Taking on the church, April 8.

What a scary glimpse of the evolving legal profession! America already has more lawyers per capita than any other industrialized nation. As new graduates swell these ranks, earnings will surely languish. However, Jeffrey Anderson, the subject of your article, demonstrates that attorneys need not settle for financial mediocrity. Success is theirs if they redefine themselves as legal entrepreneurs.

As entrepreneurs, however, they must do what Anderson has done -- get out and hustle to identify offending organizations with deep pockets. They then must pursue and convince the alleged victims that there is a pot of gold at the end of the legal rainbow. The list of "offenders" and "victims" is limited only by entrepreneurial imagination. Along the way, no doubt, some grievous wrongs like those Anderson is attacking will be recognized and corrective action forced -- but only coincidentally.

Now here's the rub. How far do we go in this "search for the guilty"? Do we sue those allegedly nasty Catholic teaching nuns of yesteryear? Surely the legal profession's medical cadre will testify that corporal punishment administered 40 years ago has ripened into post-traumatic stress disorder for thousands of former students. Do hell-fire and brimstone preachers come before the bar to pay for causing depression in their listeners? And how about the poor souls who died in Mother Teresa's arms? Was she not surely negligent in some way? I doubt, however, that even Jeffrey Anderson would want to go there -- most probably because all that blessed woman had was a deep spirit, not deep pockets.

Justice and greed are indeed becoming comfortable bedfellows.
-- Charles Dunlop, Largo

The missing details

I'm disappointed by the lack of details in articles in the St. Petersburg Times about Bishop Robert Lynch and Bill Urbanski. According to the March 28 issue of The Florida Catholic, the following elucidates some pertinent information on the story:

1. Urbanski's severance package ($100,000) that the newspaper keeps mentioning without explaining, consisted of one year's salary ($60,000), unused vacation time and Urbanski's pension -- nothing unusual about any of that.

2. The widely reported Key West trip was a group of men attending a triathlon. To save money, they shared rooms. The room Urbanski and the bishop occupied was also shared by another man, and was furnished with two double beds and a pullout couch. Urbanski took one bed, the other man took the other bed, and the bishop slept in the common area on the sofa bed.

3. Whenever Bishop Lynch and Bill Urbanski traveled professionally, they had separate rooms.

Additionally, according to The Florida Catholic, "Bishop Lynch said he was unaware that any contact he had with Urbanski was being perceived as sexual until August 2001, when Urbanski spoke to him about it. When he realized Urbanski felt it was harassment, the bishop asked for an investigation." He was not involved in the investigation.

During the investigation, Joseph DiVito, a St. Petersburg Diocese attorney, said the committee talked to at least six people whom Urbanski named as witnesses -- a group that included people both inside and outside the employment of the church, men and women. "None of them verified anything," DiVito said. "None of them backed up Bill's stories."

I have not seen any of the above in the St. Petersburg Times. Why not?
-- Kathleen C. Richardson, Palmetto

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