156% Increase On Federal Cigarette Tax

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Congressional Democrats Propose Cigarette Tax Hike to Pay for Children's Health Coverage

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children's health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.

The program expansion passed by the House and Senate last week would be financed with a 156 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, taking it to $1 per pack from the current 39 cents. Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.

Democrats, who wrote the legislation and provided most of its votes, generally portray themselves as champions of the poor. They do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it to provide health insurance to millions of modest-income children.

All the better, they say, if higher cigarette taxes discourage smoking.

[creatureofthenyte]

well hopefully it will.

although ya know,

gas prices went up, and what was the publics' response ?

drive Faster!!??

[Fierce Critter]

I'm fond of personal freedoms.

Including the right to do harmful things like smoke, drink, overeat, drive obnoxiously low-gas-mileage vehicles. To each his own.

But I don't have a problem with certain things being expensive.

Like cigarettes, alcohol, rich foods and SUV's.

I say, raise the price on cigarettes & gas-guzzling new vehicles in production, but lower the price on lean meats, healthful foods, substance abuse cessation programs/products, and create vehicles that get high gas mileage and don't require a Hollywood Star's salary to obtain.

It shouldn't be affordable to smoke. It sickens me seeing people who pull out food stamps to feed their filthy-clothed children - then see them light up a Marlboro on the way to their car.

Fuck the poor. You want to smoke? Go hunt up bottles to return for deposits to get your .99 cent store Smoker's Choice "little cigars".

I was poor with Jon for a while. I lost weight, and Jon had to go through trash cans to get the money for smokes until he said "fuck this" and quit cold turkey. How it should be.

<-- showing a very rare, unflinchingly uncaring side that I might not necessarily be too proud of

[creatureofthenyte]

I'd be happy if a pack of cigarettes costed $156. I don't smoke and hate being around smoke cuz I end up smelling like it. How smokers can breathe air that is soo oxygen deprived, I'll never know.

[Scary Guy]

Car smog helps with that.

I hope it doesn't go up because then my parents will be either broke or insane.

[Hellion]

Of course cigarette smoke cannot be as bad as car exhaust,welding fumes,radon,etc,etc.

other than that the price of everything is going up,but peoples wages.

[Kiss The Midget]

I'd be happy if a pack of cigarettes costed $156. I don't smoke and hate being around smoke cuz I end up smelling like it. How smokers can breathe air that is soo oxygen deprived, I'll never know.

i got an idea instead lets tax anybody that doesnt wear a shirt!!!!

the problem is that they get you addicted so you are at their mercy when they do raise the taxes. SMRT

[creatureofthenyte]

i got an idea instead lets tax anybody that doesnt wear a shirt!!!!

the problem is that they get you addicted so you are at their mercy when they do raise the taxes. SMRT

LOL

[phee]

As a nonsmoker.... I applaud this....

But I can only speak from my own point of view of course

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Ofcourse non-smokers are all for this. It's a tax on the poor that they aren't affected by.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

It's also a new way for Non-smokers to force thier views down everyone else's throats. Noone seems to be thinking this through to the end though... everyone gets all wishy washy.. "maybe it will get poeple to stop smoking." OK. Where does the funding come from after that?

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Partly what taxes are for is to "encourage behavior" but not actually make a law banning or forcing a given practice. Tax breaks for various real-estate purchases Actual homeowners that are more likely to take care of the place, rather than investors for instance often get a better deal. Capital gains taxes are high in comparison to other "investments" capital gains being "paper gains" like stock trades that don't actually do much to generate jobs / welfare for the community, as opposed to say investing that same money into starting a new business which gets lots of tax breaks.

Americans dying off due to preventable diseases or going to the poorhouse for wasting money foolishly is probably something we all could agree should be "discouraged". This has long been the rational for the "Sin Taxes" (Alcohol, Gambling, Smoking etc) Not saying i agree or disagree with this , just pointing it out.

There is always a push-pull relationship with "the good / freedom of the majority" vs "the good / freedom of the minority" often these two intersect and are at odds with each other and a judgement call has to be made somewhere.

I think most of us tend to side with "more personal freedom" on a gut level, but once we start studying things and making more detailed surveys of the info often its realized that one persons personal freedom/well being can hamper another's personal freedom/well being indirectly and things get more complicated.

I don't drive a motorcycle but that "you must wear a helmet" law really burned my ass at the time as a personal freedom issue. But, there is a plenty solid argument that others "dangerous" behavior raises the insurance rates of people that don't engage in such behavior , they may be fathers/mothers risking the future of their children if they die etc etc. Not to say that i AGREE with that argument but such arguments can be made that almost any "personal freedom" can infringe upon someone elses personal freedom if the consequences are followed down the line far enough.

The answers about "what is best" in such situations are almost never clear cut and call for imperfect solutions.

Add greed, corruption and other human failings into the system and it becomes even more complicated.

[Kiss The Midget]

city club should charge a tax at the door too!!! or only if you smoke?

no no no, charge non-smokers tax on the second hand smoke that they are inhaleing. or if you go down to city club/ any club and you inhale any of my smoke second hand you should pay for my 156% increase. ;P~~~

[Msterbeau]

city club should charge a tax at the door too!!! or only if you smoke?

no no no, charge non-smokers tax on the second hand smoke that they are inhaleing. or if you go down to city club/ any club and you inhale any of my smoke second hand you should pay for my 156% increase. ;P~~~

No fuckin way. If I inhale YOUR smoke. You pay a 200% misdirected smoke penalty!!!!!

[Kiss The Midget]

No fuckin way. If I inhale YOUR smoke. You pay a 200% misdirected smoke penalty!!!!!

i see what you are doing you cant steel my smoke unless you pay ;p~~

[SuZQZ]

Well. I am addicted to nicotine, specifically cigarettes. I keep trying to quit, and I go right back to it. An addict through and through. All this will do is cause me to shift money from other things so I can afford cigarettes. Things like food or going out money. Yes, it's sad, but I know it's true. Pathetic? Absolutely.

[Msterbeau]

i see what you are doing you cant steel my smoke unless you pay ;p~~

I'm not paying just because you can't control your smoke. A real man could do that.

[Der Nister]

Ofcourse non-smokers are all for this. It's a tax on the poor that they aren't affected by.

People are always for taxing something when it doesn't effect them.

The only smart solution that would not hurt anyone living in poverty is to take away all the freebies that the senate and congress get and use that money to fund this health care package.

Of course that will never happen because it would make the rich in our government actually have to do something like oh, I don't know, pay for their own health coverage.

And they will never allow that so once again - the poor get another black eye.

I thought our founding fathers fought against this sort of thing??????

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

They did, but people want "Free Health Care". Free = Someone else paying for it, no matter if they can afford it or not.

and you know what... You want to help people quit smoking.. make the fucking insurance companys and state medicaid pay for the various drugs and programs that help people quit.

but hey, you can get "free" insurance for your kids if you keep repressing the poor with tax after tax they can't afford to pay. It's ok though.. they smoke and thats like.... well, it makes you less than human or something.

[creatureofthenyte]

more thoughts:

Why doesn't the government pay for medications for people to quit smoking ?

I think they might be thinkin: hey You got yerself into it, You get yourself out.

Ive never smoked, but both my parents did.

My mom, quit cold turkey about almost 20 yrs ago.

Back in the day, she smoked like a chimney!

I used to walk around my parents house, and walk past their bedroom, and my mom would have a fog of cigarette smoke goin in there, and my dad would have the living room in a thick haze of smoke while watching tv. So, my disdain for that habit was formed at an early age.

It seems to be a gigantic debate of smokers' right to smoke, vs nonsmokers right to breath clean air.

I believe the tax on cigarettes is the governments version of providing motivation to quit.

Although, like I noted in a previous post, the gas prices went up, and no one stopped driving; instead they just started driving Faster.

I don't know if the tax hike will really do what they want it to.

Like Suzy said, she is just gonna re-delegate her budget to afford the cigarettes.

As for me, I respect the smokers right to smoke as long as the smoker respects my right to breathe.

[Kiss The Midget]

I'm not paying just because you can't control your smoke. A real man could do that.

im not real!!! so tax the bald!! perfect!!!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

How does it stop you from breathing?

Do you really think the air in your non-smoking home is good for you? Dust, Mold spores, Cooking smoke, vaporized cooking oil, cleaners, solvents, radon, carbon-monoxide.. got a laser printer? cause if you do.. your breathing Ozone... a class a carsinigent.... Ozone is good for us as long as it's a few miles up filtering the sunlight.

My point is... living in your house is more of a danger than beng around second hand smoke.

[sass_in_the_pants]

So, smokers will have to pay more for their habit so that children, possibly their own children, will have medical coverage.

Yeah, um, guess which group I think has the greater need. Hint: it's the kids.

While their at it, if the government wants to put a higher tax on my beer, wine and scotch to fund health care for children I wouldn't even bat an eyelash.

[Kiss The Midget]

So, smokers will have to pay more for their habit so that children, possibly their own children, will have medical coverage.

Yeah, um, guess which group I think has the greater need. Hint: it's the kids.

While their at it, if the government wants to put a higher tax on my beer, wine and scotch to fund health care for children I wouldn't even bat an eyelash.

except we all know that they wont use it for that. they get a new police station built, cause the other one needed to be painted.

[Fierce Critter]

Gotta live in a house.

Don't gotta smoke.

How does it stop you from breathing?

Do you really think the air in your non-smoking home is good for you? Dust, Mold spores, Cooking smoke, vaporized cooking oil, cleaners, solvents, radon, carbon-monoxide.. got a laser printer? cause if you do.. your breathing Ozone... a class a carsinigent.... Ozone is good for us as long as it's a few miles up filtering the sunlight.

My point is... living in your house is more of a danger than beng around second hand smoke.