Friday, July 11, 2008

Irony is my favorite garnish

My favorite local profligate, monosyllabic enemy of all things "nanny state," the New York Post, ran a piece today highlighting the dramatic success of the $2.75 state excise tax increase on cigarettes enacted June 3.

Apparently, this tax resulted in a steady up-tick in calls to 311 (a taxpayer-funded public service) in search of free smoking cessation aides (a taxpayer-funded public service) aimed at improving the health of current smokers and non-smokers (a public service) alike.

The Post even went so far as to admit that the "[tobacco excise] tax increases in 2002 led to a five-year, 21 percent drop in adult smoking and a 52 percent drop in puffing among students in public high schools."

Insert "Free markets make free people/you can't legislate behavior/government money is wasted money" rhetoric [HERE].

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