The Golden Goose Died!

 The Golden Goose Died!

Al Ritter

I have written articles on this subject for over 14 years, but now this is the final chapter.

To give you a little history on the subject, in 1997 there was a huge settlement from the tobacco industry to 46 states. The pay outs were huge and lasted 25 years. For instance there was an upfront payout, then yearly payouts. In the case of Maryland some $530 million per year. Those payouts increased yearly based on the inflation rate.

The purpose of these payouts were to fund smoking cessation programs nationwide. In the case of Maryland however, a mere $13 million was spent in those programs yearly. Maryland has one of the worst records of the 46 states in cessation programs. The rest of the $517 million went into the general slush fund.

Well guess what.

That settlement is now over, 25 years is up!

Now if the 45 other states are greedy as Maryland (and I’m sure they are), where do you think they are going to get the money to replace the income loss?

If you actually think they are going to cut spending to the tune of $530 million a year you will only be kidding yourself.

Mark my words friends, higher taxes are coming soon!

Read my article from back then:

https://alspoliticalview.blogspot.com/2011/02/maryland-and-tobacco-law-suit.html

Read about the tobacco settlement here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement#Receipts_by_the_states