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.
“I support taxes increasing the taxes on cigarettes”
I SUPPORT taxing fat people on their extra weight. It would collect a lot more money for all the fat lazy people on the dole and their children than just taxing smokers. No conservative should support obesity. (sounds silly, doesn’t it?)
I thought it was supposed to be: “Women and minorities hardest hit!”
Victimology - It’s so hard to keep up.
Those things were just clues Whee. You left a smoking gun, no pun intended.
Do you have a link to the legislation?
I’m part of the RYO crowd, and I’m still holding out some hope that the new $23 a pound tax hike will be modified.
I ordered tobacco seeds yesterday.
He/she/it will be back in a new incarnation and screen name next week.
It’s my fault for trying to reason with it.
IOW, it’s my nightmare FRiend and you just happen to be in it. Sorry.
But your point is well taken. Grow your own.
Freedom and capitalism by definition will always defeat tyranny and central planning.
I bought seeds yesterday. It takes a while for tobacco to dry and cure, so I plan to buy a few pounds before the tax hike.
I foresee a type of black market where people growing tobacco can sell varieties as pure leaf. I’m not sure where the price point is going to be, but, lets say $10 a pound for “kiln cured Virginia Gold aged for a year”. Like Marijuana now
runs about $60 to $70 an eighth for headys - and all those strains have names like Northern Lights, Diesel, Bubblegum, etc.
High end pot dealers now have a new product to add to their inventory. It’s quite possible that the black market product may be superior to mass manufactured cigs with the additives.
Do people who don’t smoke live longer? Do people who don’t smoke get more Social Security because they live longer?
I haven’t done any math on this, but I’d think that if people who live longer get more Social Security, and if non-smokers live longer, we’d have to look very closely at that.
Whee The People was(is?)still around I think.
Ahhh, Sir Eric, sometimes my instincts are good and sometimes they’re not. :-)
Regrading Drango, I think I know the two words that have caused you to think that Drango and Wheee are the same individual. Those two words caused a little flag to pop up for me suggesting that possibility. :-) But, I give people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.
I am finding it difficult for me justifying my taxes paying for this when here in Ohio, the Public Employees Retirement System is trying to force me out of the medical system until I reach age 55. They will still cover the retirees and children, but are only doing this to the spouses.
I've always done the “right thing,” as the politicians say. I've always paid all of my bills, have always had my own health insurance, and have never even taken a cent from unemployment when I could have. Now, I'm expected to pay for this plan while, like I said prior, my state is trying to force me out of their medical coverage plan until I reach age 55.
What the government’s plan is to lower the age requirement for Medicare to age 55.
I posted the below on this thread, but I just wanted you to see it. I think it may be a very good argument against taxes such as these, but who am I to say because it’s just my own personal opinion and view:
“I am finding it difficult for me justifying my taxes paying for this when here in Ohio, the Public Employees Retirement System is trying to force me out of the medical system until I reach age 55. They will still cover the retirees and children, but are only doing this to the spouses.
I’ve always done the “right thing,” as the politicians say. I’ve always paid all of my bills, have always had my own health insurance, and have never even taken a cent from unemployment when I could have. Now, I’m expected to pay for this plan while, like I said prior, my state is trying to force me out of their medical coverage plan until I reach age 55.”
I’m retired and on Social Security too. Keep paying into it, you scumbag, so I can keep getting my cigars.
but but but... if you cared enough about the children, you’d encourage everyone to start smoking.
What a short-sided thing to say. Oh, not to worry, though, because I can assure you that my husband will still be able to afford his cigars. We won't feel a thing.
Ahhh, Drango, the CONSERVATIVE view is that's the PARENT's responsibility, not the government's responsibility. You're "pimping" this responsibility off to the government.
Enjoy your trip, Sir Eric! Have a blast with your family.
I fully agree that parents should take the lead. Yet government need not be impotent. Conservatives can and should influence what government does and how much it costs.
If I said due to a government program teenage pregnancies were down 10%, you should cheer. If I said teenage literacy was up 10% you should cheer. If I said teenage drug use was down 10%, or teenage abortions were down 10%, all to government programs, you should cheer. If I said teenage dropouts were down 10% you should cheer. If I said teenage murders were down 10% you should cheer.
Yet I’ve never ever heard you say word one about teenage smoking other than to mock its relevance.
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