I felt this deserved its own thread.
Tucked inside the SCHIP Bill is this little, extremely regressive tax, on cigerettes. As passed by the House, the bill would increase the federal excise tax on cigerettes by $.45 and increase the taxes on cigars by 200%.
This is an extremely regressive tax, that will HURT the poor, who are vast majority of those who smoke. Some places in the country will be over $9 a pack as a result. Cigerettes are already the MOST taxed item in the country, when is enough, enough?
And no I don't smoke, but this type of tax is going to hurt the "working poor" as Dave likes to call them, more than anyone else. Its also highly discriminatory and IMHO just a bad idea offered up by the democrats.
It seems the the democrats have a penchent for adding tax increases to unrelated bills as of late(the farm bill and schip bills both have tax increases tucked away in them). For those who don't know the democrats managed to get a tax increase on foriegn companies operating and employing americans in the United States. And people say we have a problem with unempolyment, obviously the Democrats dont think so since they decided to increase the tax on foreign companies employing americans in the United States.
Update: 9/25/07
Just the latest update.
The House decided to adopt the Senates engrossed versionm which while has a higher increase of taxes on tobacco is a lot less controversial, which is why it passed the Senate with enough support to override a veto.
The House is supposed to vote on the Senates version sometime this evening. The Bill is now HR 975 IIRC. Its easily going to pass, and more GOP members have decided to vote for it because they wont be able to explain to their constitutents why the didnt vote for Childrens healthcare.
The Senate version calls for a smaller increase of only 35billion, which is still more than the GOP and Bush wants.
The bill still allows those making 300% above the poverty level in certain areas to get coverage for their children(FYI thats $82,000, and is eligible for places like NY).
The increase to the excise tax on a pack of cigs is $.61 a pack, which bring the total federal tax on a pack of cigs to $1. Its an extremely regressive tax, and those who will be shouldering it are the ones the SCHIP bill is supposed to help out.
Bush has threatend to Veto. Key GOP members are trying to get him not to as it will add to GOP problems in '08
Tucked inside the SCHIP Bill is this little, extremely regressive tax, on cigerettes. As passed by the House, the bill would increase the federal excise tax on cigerettes by $.45 and increase the taxes on cigars by 200%.
This is an extremely regressive tax, that will HURT the poor, who are vast majority of those who smoke. Some places in the country will be over $9 a pack as a result. Cigerettes are already the MOST taxed item in the country, when is enough, enough?
And no I don't smoke, but this type of tax is going to hurt the "working poor" as Dave likes to call them, more than anyone else. Its also highly discriminatory and IMHO just a bad idea offered up by the democrats.
It seems the the democrats have a penchent for adding tax increases to unrelated bills as of late(the farm bill and schip bills both have tax increases tucked away in them). For those who don't know the democrats managed to get a tax increase on foriegn companies operating and employing americans in the United States. And people say we have a problem with unempolyment, obviously the Democrats dont think so since they decided to increase the tax on foreign companies employing americans in the United States.
Update: 9/25/07
Just the latest update.
The House decided to adopt the Senates engrossed versionm which while has a higher increase of taxes on tobacco is a lot less controversial, which is why it passed the Senate with enough support to override a veto.
The House is supposed to vote on the Senates version sometime this evening. The Bill is now HR 975 IIRC. Its easily going to pass, and more GOP members have decided to vote for it because they wont be able to explain to their constitutents why the didnt vote for Childrens healthcare.
The Senate version calls for a smaller increase of only 35billion, which is still more than the GOP and Bush wants.
The bill still allows those making 300% above the poverty level in certain areas to get coverage for their children(FYI thats $82,000, and is eligible for places like NY).
The increase to the excise tax on a pack of cigs is $.61 a pack, which bring the total federal tax on a pack of cigs to $1. Its an extremely regressive tax, and those who will be shouldering it are the ones the SCHIP bill is supposed to help out.
Bush has threatend to Veto. Key GOP members are trying to get him not to as it will add to GOP problems in '08