It's happening all over America. We are being taxed. More than before. Why? Because every state and local government spent far more than they assumed they would have before the recession, and someone has got to pay. Mainly us.

Did we cause the recession? In the grand sense, yes. Because America is one big WE, and on this Independence Day, we celebrate the WE of our nation. In the tiny sense, we didn't cause this. It was big business and banks dolling out loans to people who couldn't possibly start paying them back. Giving people house loans who should never get them. Banks dishing out fifty dollars for every dollar they actually had. Greed and stupidity caused this recession. A nice way to say it is deregulation, but it's really greed and stupidity.

On July 1st, new taxes started in New Mexico. Gross receipts and sales tax went up slightly, but the big loser was cigarette smokers. A new 75 cent tax on every pack is now in effect, causing good ol' NM to have the 18th highest tax on the cancer sticks. A pack of cigarettes is up to around six bucks on average. That's 30 cents a stick.

I don't smoke cigarettes. I never really have, but I do sympathize. For something that everyone used to do fifty years ago, these people are being punished over and over again for being addicts. You can't smoke here. You can't smoke there. Cigarettes have gone up in price over and over and over again.

States can say they are doing it for people's health, but they are really doing it for people's money. My state already spent 160 million more than it had, and somebody has to pay. I can't tell you what benefit I received from spending that much more than we had, but we have to pay for it. We are part of the WE.

On my local level, the same thing is happening. Cities have to figure out how to cut budgets as mercifully as possible. Albuquerque's mayor decided against layoffs and is instead cutting hundreds of city worker's pay between two and three percent, including firefighters. Not cops, but firefighters. Of course the fire fighters union is having a fit, but honestly, I figure the average firefighter makes at least forty grand (probably more). If you can't handle living on a thousand bucks less for one year, you need to budget better yourself. Even the mayor took a pay cut.

So why do I feel bad for smokers and not firefighters? I don't know. We should wave the flag at firefighters and boo smokers, right?

I guess I don't pity people who make a good living for having to take slight cut. Firefighters lose about eighty bucks a month. Most of us can tighten our belts that much, especially if we make over forty grand a year in the first place. Two percent isn't that bad, and nobody is laid off. Smokers paid five bucks a pack (at least), and now they will pay six bucks. That's a twenty percent increase. Ouch.

Of course, there may be some firefighters who smoke, but I doubt it. It seems like a conflict of interest.

Regardless of what I think, these changes are happening. I don't smoke, and I'm not a fireman. I should be thankful they didn't tax booze and cab drivers more. Believe me, I am. I just have to deal with higher Gross Receipts and Sales Tax like the rest of us and hope our government doesn't spend more than it makes next year.

It's Independence Day. Remember all the hoopla about no taxation without representation? When was the last time you felt represented? These days it's Democrats voting For and Republicans voting Against. If you don't feel connected to either party, you are not represented. How far have we really come in 234 years? You decide. You probably know what I think.

What I really know is that we are all part of WE, and that's not going to change any time soon. Happy Birthday America! Hang in there during the tough times, we will eventually get better. I plan on staying right where I'm at for a long time.

Chris Jungle would like to meet a firefighting smoker.