Thursday, September 01, 2016

The unintended and unconscionable consequences of hiking tobacco tax

Reader Jamie has been leaving links on a post I wrote in 2014 about what was starting to happen as tobacco taxes rose. 

This week on Tuesday:

"A lucrative black market for cigarettes is fuelling an increase in armed robberies, with criminals targeting dairies and stealing tobacco products to order.
Some dairy owners are toying with the idea of pulling cigarettes from their shelves, but the decision is not an easy one with tobacco products making up a large amount of their business.
In the last seven weeks, robbers have targeted at least 17 Christchurch businesses, including dairies, pubs and bakeries. That compares to 12 in the first five months of the year."
Source

And on Wednesday:

"In Napier a father and son produced a hockey stick and table leg from behind the counter and fought back after two masked robbers, armed with a claw hammer and crowbar, attacked their dairy on August 26."
Source 

This was utterly predictable and is unconscionable.

If you feel frustrated and impotent under cynical and pragmatic governance, watch the father and son beat back the would-be burglars.

They don't.




3 comments:

Dieuwe de Boer said...

"We strongly urge anyone who believes they are facing an immediate threat to their safety, or sees a threat to the safety of others, to call 111 and let police deal with it."

Police would rather you be dead than that you successfully defend yourself. It's disgusting.

Jamie said...

"We strongly urge anyone who believes they are facing an immediate threat to their safety, or sees a threat to the safety of others, to call 111 and let police deal with it."

Lolz - I tell y'all what....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9chF9gYZqI

Someone's gonna need a grave.

Jamie said...

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Now just needs to work on the law and order side of the equation. I'm pretty sure a mans house is his castle law will apply to a blokes dairy too? Would be popular - a new political party was just recently founded on this one issue I believe.