Posted on 02/04/2009 8:01:45 AM PST by kristinn
Barely two weeks in office, President Barack Hussein Obama will raise taxes this afternoon with his signature on the SCHIP bill scheduled to pass the House of Representatives today.
The reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program includes massive tax increases on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Similar bills were vetoed twice by President George W. Bush in part because of the tax increases. Democrats in the House and Senate have voted overwhelmingly for the tax increases each time the bill was proposed and were joined by a handful of Republicans.
The bill Obama will sign today raises the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes by 62 cents (or $6.20 per carton) bringing the federal tax to $1.01 per pack.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was quoted by the AP as saying of the bill signing, ""It's going to be a happy day for America."
A Heritage Foundation analysis of the bill reported that even with the massive tax increases, 22 million new smokers will be needed to pay for the expansion of SCHIP.
Obama is scheduled to hold a public signing ceremony at 4:30 P.M. today.
Just Teddy's alone would fund the project!
A nation’s individual freedom and economic prosperity, is inversely proportional to that nation’s tax rate.
It will not reduce consumption. It will create a black market much like it has in Canada where 50% of cigarettes sold in Canada are from the black market and as such not taxable.
Cigarettes in Canada cost almost $10 but can be bought for about a dollar on the black market. The American government, much like the Canadian one, will price themselves out of the market.
Are you SCHIPin’ me??
I have. It's my thing when talking about taxes. I usually get a glazed look and a bunch of "uh uh uh's" when I take there conversation there. I say, don't pay your taxes they WILL come get you. More uh's and glazed look. Then try to bring up the point of "by what right" does an individual or group of individuals have to take a portion of my life arbitrarily at the point of a gun. Instead of just uh's I get a few but's.
Works fine until your local electric utility reports you to the DEA for your Grow light Electric usage spike.
Then the IRS comes down and takes everything you have for not paying THE TAX!!
Look in the mirror.
Exactly right, please see my post above
My father’s death at 51 was attributed to his chain smoking, which exacerbated his heat condition. I’ve never smoked and made my husband quit when we got married.
My grandfather died of small cell lung cancer, my paternal grandmother died of non-small lung cancer. Both were smokers.
That said, I don’t support targeted taxes, which hit only a small part of the population. Now, you tax smokers and alchol drinkers, but not Indian gambling. They are already figuring out ways to tax the rural population, for everything from road use (with GPS transponders) to stormwater that runs across their property. It’s just more Democrat, taxes for thee, but not for me.
http://careysmokeshop.stores.yahoo.net/
I highly suggest the Stokkebye Imported Cigarette Tobaccos particularly the Danish Export for a lighter smoke or the Amsterdam Shag for something with a full flavor.
And while we’re here, does anyone know if there are regulations in place to ensure that the money raised actually goes to what it says it’s going to go to?
I recall hearing that only some 10% of the billions raised in the MSA actually went to smoking cessation and childrens’ anti-smoking initiatives as it was purportedly for.
“A Heritage Foundation analysis of the bill reported that even with the massive tax increases, 22 million new smokers will be needed to pay for the expansion of SCHIP.”
Doesn’t matter, the legislation is passed and will NEVER be stopped or cut back. They’ll fund it any way they can in the future.
A conservative thinks it's no one's damn business whether they smoke or not.
actually ... smokers end up costing society less because they are more likely to die earlier of heart attacks.
“Obama Unveils New Rules To Curb Executive Pay” - Latest headline.
So Obama is already copying the disastrous policies of FRD - raise taxes and wage war on corporate America, the same actions that extended the Depression of the 1930’s for several years.
To be consistent, the salaries of all Congressmen, Cabinet officers, and the president should be reduced to zero. The economy has worsened since the Demos took over. In fact, one could make a good case for Congressmen, Cabinet members and the president to reimburse the Treasury for any pay they have received so far in 2009, then pay $10,000 per month each for the privilege of remaining in office.
I have even done a quick search through the bill itself.
Secondhand smoke... that’s funny. Don’t forget the climate change caused by tobacco, too.
Tobacco seeds are cheap.
FAIL
Smokers Cost Taxpayers $10 Billion
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/11/tobacco_cost.html
Smokers cost taxpayers
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705278247,00.html
Tobacco-Free States Spend Less on Medicaid
http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Smokers-Cost-Medicaid-System-Nearly—2410-Billion-7170-1/
Study: Smokers cost Medicaid $294 million in N.C.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2007/11/26/daily39.html?f=et85&ana=e_du
Researchers Say Smokers Cost Employers in Missed Work Days, Poor Performance
http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2007/researchers-say-smokers-cost.html
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