China Mandates Smoking Quota

I hope the new totalitarian regime in Washington does not hear about this. It seems that officials in China have been ordered to smoke 230,000 packs of cigarettes a year to keep tax revenues flowing. It also will bolster sales for locally produced cigarettes.

Officials in China have reportedly been told to puff their way through four and a half million cigarettes a year.

Staff at local government offices in Hubei province were given the order in a move intended to set an example for the rest of the nation, according to state media.

And if they fail to smoke their way through 230,000 packs of locally-produced cigarettes, the officials could face fines.

Brands such as Huanghelou have been earmarked as part of the official quota.

"The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," local official Chen Nianzu was quoted as saying in the Global Times.

The measure may also be a ploy to boost sales of local cigarette brands, under pressure from competitors in neighbouring Hunan province.

Some 350 million Chinese - including more than half of all male doctors - currently smoke, with around a million dying from smoking-related diseases every year.

State media recently reported the government was attempting to reduce the number of doctors smoking in China.

Source: Skynews.com

To fully fund SCHIP with tobacco taxes, Obama will need 22 million new smokers. With a serious budget shortfall in the SCHIP program looming on the horizon, Obama cannot afford the loss of any current smokers. Since Comrade Obama has already done a great many tyrannical things, it may come as no surprise to some if he considers following China's example.