The Ripple Effect

The cost of smoking ban enforcement is eating up taxpayer funds and police presence in Ohio, and is also lowering tax revenue due to closing businesses. 

Since Ohio’s smoking ban took effect a year ago, Hamilton County has spent more than $43,000 to collect $630 in fines. And that’s not including the cost of administrative hearings.

The law gives 90 percent of all fines to local health departments, and backers said that would pay for enforcement. What were they smoking?

Hamilton County is not alone. Lucas County also spent $40,000 on mileage, overtime and paperwork for enforcement. The entire state collected $30,000 in fines.

And 27 percent of those fines were on private clubs – mostly American Legion and VFW clubs, state records show. That’s how Ohio says thanks to veterans.

Several counties are turning enforcement over to the state. “Where do I get on that list?” said Hamilton County Administrator Patrick Thompson.

Bar owners say revenues are down 30 percent and the ban is running 280 bars out of business in Hamilton County alone – a big tax loss

So let’s get this straight…

The Fed would like to see government bail outs for homeowners who are in default on their mortgages (most of whom acted irresponsibly with the biggest purchase of their lives), while citing property tax declines as a main justification for such a bailout, yet when it comes to smoking bans destroying jobs and lowering tax revenues for local municipalities, the Fed remains silent. 

Meanwhile, state, county, and city governments have found it necessary to slit their own throats by enacting smoking bans that are driving tax revenues and jobs away.  Not to mention the fact that these insane bans are consuming police protection and taxpayer funds that should be allocated to true criminal activity.

It should become very clear to anyone who is still on the fence on this issue that government does not know best, and that when given the opportunity to be your ‘mommy’, they will screw things up in ways that make Britney Spears’ life decisions appear sane and reasonable.

Smoking bans are made up of nothing but the sheer insanity of egotistical politicians on the government level, and hateful self-righteousness (and/or spoiled-rotten complacency) in the public square.  Mix them together, and you have a recipe for economic and social disaster.

This shouldn’t be a ‘convenience’ issue for people anymore, whether you’re a smoker or a non-smoker.  This is a freedom to choose and property rights issue that is quickly becoming an economic issue. We are already beginning to experience the ripple effects of smoking bans, and it’s much more serious than a few shivering smokers standing outside in the cold, or a non-smoker choosing to endure a couple hours of cigarette stench to have a beer with his buddies. 

How many jobs, how much tax revenue, and how many police man hours must we waste before we realize that we are adults who can make the decision as to whether or not we’ll enter an establishment that allows smoking?  What are we willing to sacrifice? 

Apparently we’re willing to sacrifice our own safety (police protection), tax dollars (those lost tax revenues need to be made up somehow), and at the same time place the neck of small business owners in the guillotine. 

If you don’t feel comfortable making your own choice as to where you’ll enjoy a beer or a burger, I’ll kindly give you my phone number and so that I can make the decision for you.  All I ask is that you don’t support legislation that takes away the rights and livelihood of others on account of your own inability to make a simple decision as to which bar or restaurant you’ll patronize.

It’s time to end the insanity.  Write to your elected officials now, and tell them that you refuse to support any candidate–AT ANY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT–who chooses to embrace such backwards-thinking, irresponsible legislation.  Tell them that you are fully capable of making your own decisions on where you’ll spend your evenings out (thank you very much), and that you don’t appreciate them being irresponsible with your tax dollars or making criminals of otherwise law-abiding citizens.