I don't think anyone is against the arts, but considering the economic climate, another tax, even if it's only aimed at the smokers, should be out of the question.

Vote no or buy smokes out of the county! Why no taxes on fast food? That is worse for you!

OK. Cigarette manufacturers make $3-$5 on a carton of cigarettes. The federal Gov gets $10, Ohio $12.50, now Summit wants $3.45? That about $25 for the government, 5-8 times what the manufacturers get, and don't forget the sales tax on top of all that for another $1.50 or so. These prices have consequences, consumers look to theft, black market products, and other means to avoid taxes. Summit smokers will flee to other counties, and not just by their cigarettes there, but also their gas, beer, etc. This will be a loss for Summit county and the smokers who live here. Keep encouraging this and the government will kill the cigarette industry and will have to legalize pot to make up for the billions in lost revenue. Don't let this happen! The answer is never more government and more taxes.

Why would people want to include alcohol? Ohio is only ranked #7 for heavey drinkers and 27th for casual out of 52. That's telling there's a lot of drinkers here in Ohio. While I don't care one bit for a tax like this, people need to get their priorities in order. They are laying off police and firemen and they want to raise taxes for the arts? The arts are worth wild, but our safety is a little bit more important. I would never vote on this as it doesn't make sence.

give me $20K and I'll relaxe my a&& TOO !!

Who has $3800 to buy scrap glass from this guy (only in New York) lets give them money to sell their fine art outside of Summit County.

If the 'Arts' can't support themselves, then it's time they close up shop. Giving 20 grand to an 'artist' so he can keep producing art that no one buys is absurd. Maybe I should grab some paint and canvas, call myself an 'artist', and apply for some of this money. Shall we pay money to all the 'garage bands' whos's music stinks and can't sell it? Aren't they artists too? Why aren't these legislators looking at ways to produce real jobs? Oh yeah... Tom Sawyer gave us the final vote on NAFTA... He doesnt support jobs for the masses... And we all know that the majority of smokers are the middle and lower classes of America. Those who not only can't afford more tax, but would never waste one minute of their lives looking at so-called 'art'. Raise the entry fees for these places and let them sustain themselves. If no one attends, that in itself shows why the business should fail.

Thankfully, with the wasting of money by our leaders, I feel this has no chance in he-ll of passing. Tell the 'artists' that it is time to get a real job.

Now lets not go putting down the artists,who cant work a regular job cuz it could hold back their creativity.I have a few g/fs with b/fs that are starving artists,rooms full of art and bs that are very lazy and insist they are artists,Dont ya have to sell something to be one? LOL...

Im glad im in Stark Co.I'll just keep buying my cigs here,I occasionally did in Summit but thats over.

You're right, we're paying for their hobbies. Absurd to tax people for others' hobbies.

I think the state will prevent this, because they will see a drop in the state revenues from cigarette tax's. Let me explain:
People are a little smarter these days with their money, yes even smokers. South Carolina only has .07 cents per pk tax.
Missouri .17
Virginia .30 etc. etc.
Ohio has 1.25 per pk. Plus each county adds their tax etc.

Now in Ohio, cigarettes are like $50.00 per carton.
An in-law in another state gets a (microwave size) box from an ohioan with some money each month. He goes to his local store and buys cartons @ $20.00 ea. Fills the box and ships it back. Ohioan sells a portion of those cartons to a few friends here in Ohio for $35.00 ea. In-law gets $10.00 per carton Ohioan gets $5.00. Ohioan smokes for free, and none of them have to pay Ohio's outragous taxes.
Trust me I KNOW it happens and its catchin on in a big way.

Zapdog-maybe we can get the Don to hire us to paint the Akron-Akron-Akron-Akron bridge this summer...

tax this

Write your representatives now and tell them what you think of this scheme now. Start buying your cigarettes in Portage or Stark Counties now. "Artists" - get a job and stop expecting others to support your hobby now!

=============
Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, said lawmakers also want to see broad-based support outside of County Council and the arts community.
=============

Dear Tom,

If the ABJ doesn't cut off all commentary about this story, you can come back in about 24 hours and find HOW LITTLE 'broad-based' support this idea has with the common folks (smokers and non-smokers such as me) who are both taxpayers and voters.

To pull a phrase from a few decades ago...

JUST SAY "NO"

''But people realized investing in the arts community is smart money,'' said Mikula, 46, of Cleveland, who received a $20,000 fellowship this year thanks to the tax.


Says the guy who got 20k for doing nothing.

Sorry DEMs, the EPA beat ya to what money the bubbas had to spend on new taxes. And, you folks don't really want the bubbas inside your facilities anyway! Right?

How about we tax people with aids and use that to fund the arts? Or, are we just pickin on the smokers?

how much of that tax dollar amount for the arts diminish when all those people quit smoking or cut drastically back? The amount is a complete fabrication then isn't it?

So they will then find somewhere else to you like plastic bags at the store.

Se, right now they are pitting smokers against non-smokers, but when they don't make the amount of money that they are fantasizing they are going to make off of this tax, they will be coming after the non-smoker for more.

Government aims to take as much money as they can get and they leave you to struggle while theirs live high off the hog.

Its as simple as emailing your councilman and informing him or her a vote for this tax eliminates their job next election time.

Unfortunately voters have short memories and are more interested in what pro athlete or pro sports teams do or what is on American Idol,then to take back control of their government

Whenever they tax you like this, they are calling you ignorant cattle. Moo and Moan all you want, they gonna take your money and make your lives miserable. Scrimp and sacrafice for the greed of government while your families are put into even more perilous situations by their unwarranted thievery.

i say tax candy, it causes cavities. raise taxes on luxury items to support the arts. first reflex is to just tax cigs and alcohol. why don't some of the legislators get creative?

Isn't this a form of profiling?. I dont smoke but I use to,I guess you tax sin to support sin. If the arts are such a resource why would you ask those disgusting non caring,distasteful,filthy habitual smokers to support your cause.

Why not tax Filet Mignon,Lobster,four hundred dollar a night hotel rooms for the elite,and of course remember that Smokers will not be able to smoke anywhere near the Arts Buildings and events.

Its time ABJ readers,email these leaches and let them know how disgusting they are. If they like Cuyahoga countys idea so much let them travel to Cleveland for Fine F-arts

What I can't figure out, is why a group of people. expect another group of people to pay for their hobbies and entertainment. Same thing has been going on in sports. You have an multi- millionaire owner that owns the team and makes a profit, but expects the tax payer to build them a stadium. The people that pay for the stadium may go to it or they may not. Then you have these want to be called artist, that are to lazy to seek real employment and want the tax payers to fund their hobbies.

Summit County said they're not opposed to letting voters decide whether to fund the arts through a local tax.Voters vote no.
Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron Who was defeated in congress,Begged for this appointment to the state senate.And then run unopposed.Needs to go where he voted to send our jobs.To Mexico Mr. NAFTA.OH and tax them since they have our jobs.

Todd65
Its called America sad to say.People will not stand up.

''The arts attract educated citizens and help maintain educated citizens. You just can't have a progressive city and community without creative people in it.'' If this is the case why not tax college tuition and books since only the educated students will benefit from this and not us uneducated ones who might still smoke.

Its time to take a stand against over taxation and special interests. Just say NO.

Leave the smokers alone, they are funding enough with all
the tax on a pack. I don,t smoke but people have the right of choice and should not have to pay what they are paying now and to fund the arts with a smoking tax absurd! I will
vote no.

I say tax cigarettes to the hilt and beyond. Smokers do not make the choice to smoke for themselves. Their habit spills over to non-smokers. If they inhaled all the smoke and it just stayed inside of them, I would not be a bit bothered by them. The fact is that the smoke to often enters the space of those who do want it. Some will say that this kind of tax would not be fair. It is no less fair than me having to tolerate some else's cloud of smoke. At its essence, tobacco companies are drug dealers who operate under the protection of the law and smokers are addicts and victims.

The socialites should be taxed on the wine purchased for the arts events. They can take their own to blossom for the orchestra,it is at the art events. They should support their own hobby. How about some of these taxes helping abused children? They are in need far more than someone needing paint.

I'll buy my cigarettes elsewhere, it's just that simple. Or maybe I'll decide to guit. Then who are they gonna tax? Everyone! For the Arts? Don't we have more pressing things to try to tax to fund? What a joke!!!

Natural Law: what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world, God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demands every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church; markets the cost; in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of funding Arts and every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care); enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide for every child (job) they conceive; and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.

Wow. When the vote came up to ban smoking from bars and clubs, the non-smokers said, "OH--don't worry! If there's no smoking in those places, we'll be able to go to the bars and clubs, and we will help support them"...now its several years later. The non-smokers who promised to come out to the bars in droves have not come. The end result is that its killed the nightclubs, bars, bingo halls, and other dependent industry. Many clubs have closed or will be closing. The non-smokers are not coming, and the smokers are no longer coming either because they have to stand outside in the rain to smoke.

FAT TAX, people. Tax FAST FOOD...

If this one goes thru, I'll quit smoking. Alot of smokers will quit. At over $5 for ONE PACK, who can afford any more? So then who will pay your Arts tax? The non-smokers? YEAH. Just like they go to the bars now---they're not gonna do it---and neither will I.

And by the way, I have read that diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries have far surpassed smoking related illnesses.

Those conditions are caused by diet. Fatty fast food with our nation's genetically altered corn in syrup form in nearly all processed food and drinks is to blame.

You wanna sin tax? Tax the sinners who have genetically altered our food and the people who consume large quantities of fast food and end up with one of these conditions and on public assistance because they're too fat to work.

THAT'S THE SIN.

TAX THIS

The h@ll with summit county council! I smoke WHY..because i can t afford to leave and am dying to get out of summit county

@Think

And I feel everyone who lives in Stow should be taxed double income tax and double property taxes.

Reason? No special reason. Just dont like people who THINK like you and you live in Stow so all people in Stow must think like you.

In case your confused that's what your post sounded like

Hey THINK, Maybe we should tax IGNORANCE, it also spills over into areas. Like the post you posted on here.

Besides, Goodyear, Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, Mohawk,etc,. Put more polution in the air in Summit county and toxins than 1,000,000 smokers could in a life time.

To DS: If something or someone from Stow is invading your space in Clinton (in the same manner as smoke from a smoker invades other people's space), I probably should pay more taxes if it would help deter Stow's intrusive behavior. The only disgreement I have with your post is that I do not dislike smokers, I dislike smoking and the bad things it does to people.

Todd65, I think those tire factories were moved a long time ago? But, don't fret the EPA will be back to inspire new taxes to clear those skies of pollutants. And, one day, you'll be able to safely swim in the Cuyahoga river.

Doesn't justify single-ling them on for taxation
on a community institution. Evey-one pays tax or no one

Think

I am a non-smoker but I believe people need to stand for others against government taxation based solely on ones habit and their agenda.

Heavy taxes on cigarettes to help cancer research
and medical costs I believe is appropriate

Funding the arts by single ling out smokers is
wrong.

Should we tax homosexuals to help in aids research??

County Council should not have a right to judge and tax a segment of the population,and any citizen who supports such activity may someday find themselves in the same boat simply by my example I gave you. I dont like Stow people so lets tax them

I only used Stow as an example of how Government can be out of control

No ill will towards Stows population

Put an extra TAX on the Arts. Those who spend money on the ARTS pay an extra tax.
F. .k Em!

Think,

When does the smoke "spill over" to you? There's no smoking inside and if you say outside you're a paranoid germaphobe that needs psychiatric help.

This is discrimination, which makes you a hypocrite because I've seen you speak out against it.

They do need to tax fast food and fat people, because their ugly "spills over" into my eyesight.

The 2nd Hand Smoke Myth

(click it)

@DS and PureSpec...

I couldn't agree with you more particular people sticking togeteher for others against a growing
dictatorship and taxation by Summit County Government

@DS

Enjoyed your sarcasm on the article - Coal-fired plant to dramatically cut pollutants

Go get them smokers. While your at it you might as well put more tax's on them people who stay healthy because they are walking, working out, eating well, resting and have less stress. That should get you more than enough to take care of the ARTS.

and i quote...

"Howard Towler, 65, was dumbfounded when he learned about the proposal during a recent visit to the Smoker's Den on East Tallmadge Avenue in Akron.

''They're going to do what?'' the Akron resident asked. ''You mean to tell me as I stand here as a veteran that you're going to raise money for arts, but you're going to lay off police and firefighters?"
a) the fact that you're a vet, has nothing to do with this issue
b) the fact that laying off police and fire, has nothing to do with this issue

but, seriously, thank you for your comment sir. it was most enlightening...

Eventually, it appears that the item being taxed over and over and over again is gonna dry up and disappear. In the article, it was stated that cigarettes are not selling due to the cost. People, the cash cow (this product and the taxes on this product) is drying up.

Where do we go from here? Pick another vice of the working class? Pick a new vice of the well-heeled? Are the arts that important that they require funding by the near elimination of other products, thus eliminating businesses? Eliminating industries? Eliminating jobs?

so very sick of the smokers getting the shaft.... why not tax the alcoholics and let them pay for something.

Think, maybe you should stay out of places where you can smoke, that way you won't have to breath the cloud. By the way, don't go outside, the EPA says the air is dirtier than ever.

Thunder wrote

Eventually, it appears that the item being taxed over and over and over again is gonna dry up and disappear.

**************************************

Correct

That item being taxed over and over and disappearing

"THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS"

Well When you have a majority ... You can stick it to the Minority voters.... Or they would tax something more people buy. Like Soda Pop...

"At the time, he wasn't sure that the average resident recognized the economic and creative value provided to the region."

Wow, how condescending can you get?

DS, not the point I was looking for, however.....a better point than what I made.

Thank you or thinking outside of the box.

It is the "Ultimate Item"

Actually I like your 330 trampoline jumping elephant better!

"The scientific evidence is now indisputable"

The 1964 Surgeon General Report, which declared that the inhalation of cigarettes would "likely" cause

These two insertions are from Purespecu....link above on second hand smoke.

It is a very interesting observation that GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS and POLITICIANS are the only ones that ever use that descriptive and highly subjective terminology.

It is the exact way and only way Global warming
alarmists ever start or insert comment on Global Warming,and we find it was used over forty years
ago to defend second hand smoke legislation

@airmom - You really didn't need to state "and i quote" before citing information from the newspaper article. If you just put quotation marks around the information you're quoting, people get the hint. But, thanks for your comment--it was most enlightening :).

i stoped smoking about a year an a half ago...smoked a couple packs a day....went from marlbouro to generics when the price hit 4 bucks a pack for name brand...an quit when the generics hit the same price....now cigs are 4-6 bucks a pack....glad i quit when i did....the ohio goverment needs to stop using the cig tax like they do property taxes....

Let the Arts support themselves, forget about this tax. Let the "market" decide whether the arts are worth wild in our area. Be sure if this tax goes through that we know which lawmakers supported it so we can vote them out of office next time around.

Great link about second hand smoke..Thanks for posting that, Pure Speculation. Here's a segment of it:

The Surgeon General was incorrect. Second hand smoke may be an irritant and an annoyance, but it’s not a cause of death. There are no body bags filled with those who have developed tumors or heart disease as a result of second-hand smoke. The body bags are filled, however, with scientists and physicians who dare go against the anti-smoking lobby and state the obvious—the science isn’t there. As much as they want to ban all smoking in all places, the health risk is grossly overstated. Whenever someone dies of lung cancer, such as Diane Reeves, the late wife of Christopher Reeves, the anti-smoking lobby uses the news as a media circus. They want to relate the unfortunate death to something… even if such a relationship has no basis in solid scientific research.

In 1633, the Catholic church condemned Galileo for asserting that the Earth revolves around the sun. Galileo was forced to recant his scientific findings to avoid being burned at the stake. This was a clear conflict between faith and science.

Yet, there is clear scientific evidence that diet and obesity are directly responsible for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and many other conditions.

FAT TAX.

It's perposterous they're even legal!

Oh, that's right, it's a law made by the same people who allow you to carry a loaded handgun but not a firecracker.

Ban 'em anyway!

As Mitchel Kahan states, the arts in Summit County ARE historically underfunded. But, how about the Akron Art Museum?

The amount of money the museum sunk into the challenging "architecture" of their expansion could have saved the arts & nonprofits in Summit County.

And for anyone who wants to defend the importance of the new building's design, read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/arts/design/12build.html?_r=1

$5 a day for a pack X 365 days $1825 per year to smoke.... No wonder people are quiting or growing their own Like that guy in portage county.

No one smokes anymore, right? What is left to tax? Most common, the poor and lower middle class are the smokers, so we continue to tax the poor and lower income families....Why not tax wines? Gourmet foods? Something that affects the folks that have it? I am a non-smoker and the cigarette tax is just getting stupid.

You still have a way to go to catch NYC where a pack now goes foe 9$ and in some areas as much as 10. Crossing the river to Jersey not that much better where their closing in on 8 bucks. Add on the river tolls and it's not worth the trip. I'm not a smoker and don't own a car so either way has no effect on me but I do hear many friends complaining but still lighting up!

Ugly art work if you ask me. Looks like something a 4 year old can do. Why pay for that? I need a smoke now. Glad its brake time.

I don't like the smoke (see or smell very little anymore, and I appreciate the ban) but where does this end ?

My coat stinks after being on a rack of coats belonging to smokers, who smoke before work, during both breaks, and after lunch. That's 3rd hand smoke. Carcinogous residue. The junkies contaminate my clothing 4 times a day. Kill yourself, but not me, please.

By the way, smokers, you stink like an anchovies behind.

Really, another tax for your own pleasures. To all the politicians, listen closely and I can settle the debt problem for you. "STOP SPENDING MONEY" on all the new projects, no new taxes and get rid of you friends and family earning a check on your payroll. The people are sick and tired of being screwed by your greed and lifestyle needs. Can this be more clear. I ask all citizens to vote out all incumbents until they listen to the people. We don't have any money left for ourselves so stop looking for ways to steal it from us. Thank you.

And I am not even a smoker, just sick of political thieves.

If your budget is so tight, that you might not have enough money to afford gas, food, and cigs.....maybe you should cut back on the cigs.

Yeah, I feel like I need to help pay for the Klingon Spacecraft eyesore!

Ah That "art" Looks like someone ate a deluxe pizza and barfed on the wall.

No wonder they cant get people to pay to see it....

If they were selling this cr@p they would be able to support themselves and the temporary help they use. He more than likely does not pay taxes for them or his art or return any monies back to the museums.

Make us pay for the ARTS while they make this hideus stuff and show this (cr@p) that they call ART for free to sell for big dollars to the rich.

would you honestly hang that ART anywhere other than the basement. Out of sight out of mind. Like the artist.

Let the Arts fund themselves. If people don't want to go in then close them.

"If your budget is so tight, that you might not have enough money to afford gas, food, and cigs.....maybe you should cut back on the cigs."

If you can't afford your ugly art, maybe you should cut back on the "art." Instead of acting like beggars... well, more like thieves. Would you want your money taken from you to fund others' Star Wars action figures or crack hobbies?

Oops, forgot...

























"If your budget is so tight, that you might not have enough money to afford gas, food, and cigs.....maybe you should cut back on the cigs."

If you can't afford your ugly art, maybe you should cut back on the "art." Instead of acting like beggars... well, more like thieves. Would you want your money taken from you to fund others' Star Wars action figures or crack hobbies?

Why on Earth do the smokers have to support yet another half-wit idea that the County comes up with??? If the people in the arts are not smart with what money they have, it is not our problem. I am disgusted by the very idea that we would have to pay for something that we don't even get to enjoy. We can't even smoke at outdoor venues any more (open air stadiums etc...) and now we are supposed to subsidise a bunch of idiots who spend like drunken sailors? The tax base is not just smokers- it is everyone, and if you are going to levy a tax, it should be on everyone -NOT just one segment of the population. Smokers have been paying for the niceties in life for a very long time and have not been allowed to enjoy them - it is time to stop this nonsense and make it across the board - then maybe the non-smokers can get as anhry as we are about being screwed by their government. I hate to be the bearer of bad news fols, but this country was founded, in part, by tobacco. You start messing with that industry, and the ramifications to everyone will be huge.

Pudge & May Fong-

You may not be able to appreciate fine art because you haven't explored its history. However, you are surrounded by the influence of great artist's everyday, from the design of your shampoo bottle to the design of your home.

So, maybe you wouldn't hang a Frank Stella piece in your home. But that's not why Frank Stella created it anyway. I'm sure there are elements in your home (decorative posters, the pattern on your bed comforter, a candle holder, etc.) that were influenced by Mr. Stella and you didn't even know it.

Fallentrinity-

It sounds to me like it's not the county who came up with this "half-wit" idea, it was the local arts groups or lobbyists. The politicians are basically saying, "It's Ok with us if you take the issue to the voters". They aren't necessarliy declaring their support.

Also, I agree that some of the larger arts institutions have spent money unwisely. But most of the arts organizations in Summit County don't even have enough money to spend, let alone spend unwisely.

And, if it's not the arts taxing your cigarettes, it will be some other group at another time. Cigarette taxes are very, very common.

sammie, I'm not taxed extra to subsidize the design of the shampoo bottle or my blanket.

Let the arts support themselves?

C'mon, people. They never have and probably never will. Certain quality-of-life institutions like the park system, recreational leagues, museums and the (media and performing) arts have always relied on taxes, grants and patrons to fund their operations. This is neither new nor different.

What IS new and different is taxing an already highly taxed and government-controlled product and putting the burden of supporting these institutions on the backs of an already persecuted minority population.

Until the Akron Art Institute opens a "Smoking Garden" and there is a smoker's seat at the table in the county arts council, then these groups should look elsewhere for their funding.

P.S. - I have not smoked in years, but what's wrong is wrong, and this measure is wrong.

@Pure Speculation

Have a question for you

Ed-

With this cigarette tax, you wouldn't be subsidizing shampoo bottles & blankets - you would be taxed extra to subsidize the quality of life in your community.

Why're you waiting to ask it?

Have you had your jpgs deleted off this site

It was expressed that they enjoy them; and we've emailed each other discussing the size of em... since we reached a compromise regarding the size, the only thing that was deleted was...

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a175/PhillipIII/weed.gif

...that I posted on the "Study shows pot becoming even more popular among teenagers" story yesterday.

I take it you have yours removed?

Before long people, smokes should be about $100 dollars a pack and when they either bankrupt smokers or force them to quit, the govt will tax your candy, chips or any other pleasurable delight that exists on this earth to make life bearable! Don't hold the rich, greedy chumps that have ran this country into the ground responsible for the mess they have made and force them to give up a Benz or 5. Let's tax the peasants to fund the friggin arts!

Had four unoffensive normal sized removed

Doubt it was ABJ Someone couldnt handle satire
Wouldnt think ABJ would remove for that reason