The expanded SCHIP bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Feb 4 Raises the FET (Federal Excise Tax) on Roll Your Own tobacco to $24.78 per pound, a $23.68 INCREASE!
The black market is going to THRIVE!
PING!
If you still smoke now and then you didn't stop smoking. Cut back, yes. Stopped, no.
No level of gov’t., state or federal should be allowed to tax behavior that it disapproves of.
I live in Georgia and they have added their own little tax to cigarettes too. I changed to the cheaper Doral brand years ago and was getting a carton for 24.06. Within the last month they jumped to 26.00 and then to 31.00. I have no idea how much they are now since April 1st.
A guy in front of me in 7-Eleven bought 2 packs of cigarettes and I know the total was over $15. On top of that our sales tax went up yesterday from 8.8 percent to 9.3 percent. Unfortunately more is coming our way.
I agreed with her observation, and added that I find it strange that the tax on alcohol, gas, and even the state lotteries, seem to disproportionally target the very people of whom the "do good" party claims to be protecting.
I often wonder just how much of the limited resources of the working Poor in this country is being sucked up by certain taxes, so that they can be recycled into welfare, food stamps, section 8, medicaid, ect, and the so called poor aren't even aware of their contributions?
You gotta give it to the Democrats, because while they have there arm around the poor, and their hand in our pockets, they have their other hand in the pockets of the poor as well.
The sad thing is, while we know what's going on, they don't have a clue, and wouldn't be convinced of it by anyone.
NOBAMA: "I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
He repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime."
NOBAMA'S SHILL: "The president's position throughout the campaign was that he would not raise income or payroll taxes on families making less than $250,000, and that's a promise he has kept," said White House spokesman Reid H. Cherlin. "In this case, he supported a public health measure that will extend health coverage to 4 million children who are currently uninsured."
MR GAFFTASTIC: "No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised," Joe Biden said, "whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax."
Now, who has the cojones to call them out on this? Don't look to the pathetic press.
Snip...National health objectives for 2010 focus on eliminating health disparities among population subgroups (1). Closing the gap in smoking prevalence among persons of different socioeconomic strata will require comprehensive tobacco- control programs that discourage smoking initiation and promote smoking cessation among members of populations at high risk. Comprehensive tobacco-control programs at local, state, and national levels must ensure that their intervention efforts reach persons with inadequate resources and limited access to health care.
Who knew that "comprehensive tobacco- control" meant tax the hell out of 'em?
And it's a known fact that poor people people of "low socio-economic status" smoke more.
The evil tobacco products are going to be taxed into oblivion and myself and my wife and many others we know are going to finally stop using such legal products. So, what is the usual outcome? More you tax the product, the more people stop using them, and the less taxes are collected. And then there is the underground market that will emerge.
Do liberals have an economic defect in their brains? Certainly looks so. Or maybe they are just plain ass STUPID!