I'm sure that this has come up somewhere else, but I'd like to point out that Mr. Compassionate Conservatism, Mr. Pro-Life, decided that conscious children, out of the womb and already in a world of hurt due to the lives they were born into, aren't worth helping, or saving.
For those of you who still rock the Bush/Cheney stickers, even after he sent 4000 grand worth of your sons, daughters, moms, dads needlessly, capricously, and cynically to their deaths: Is it not painfully, blindingly apparent that this guy doesn't care about you or your family, and GOP, which hides behind his leg like a scared little boy, is finally willing to call bullshit.
Are you?
I rarely comment on anything, but what i do know from working in the tobacco industry is that this schip bill has gotten insane. congress decided that the bill needed to be expanded to include not only low income families/children, but that children from families making under 80 thousand a year and under the age of 26 needed to be included in this. Last time I checked, 26 was considered adult. Anyway, the way they were going to go about raising all this extra money was the way they always seem to do...raise tobacco taxes. Not just on cigarettes this time, but this would raise the tax on cigars BY 53%, (effictively giving Ohio a 70% tobacco tax) with a $10 cap on cigars that are over 6-10 bucks already. So, your average $7.00 cigar jumps to $17.00.
ReplyDeleteThere would also be a tax hike on pipe tobacco, small cigars sold in packs of 20 or less, cigarettes, etc. Basically, if it's made from tobacco it would be taxed. Existing inventory in cigar shops and smoke shops would also be taxed, so when this took effect, we would have to pay that 53% on anything that we had in stock at the time.
And because this is a national thing rather than state-wide, the fallout from this would be crazy. You would have VERY few cigar and tobacco shoppes that could afford to stay in business. We lose enough of it to the internet as it is, and a price hike like this would actually make it worth getting your smokes on line and overseas.
So, this is really an unfair bill. IF they left it as children in low income families under age 18, and didn't want to target one industry to pay for nearly the entire plan, and Bush still vetoed it, it would be different. But right now, I'm happy I'll have a job through the holiday season.
Em
Thank you for filling in the details on the unseen effect. I would tend to agree that perhaps this needs to be spread around more. I think, really, all corporations should kick in on this.
ReplyDeleteone might see upping the age of coverage to 26 as a positive...covering people who are just entering the work force, but are coming in at low wages, or who may still be trying to go to college.
ReplyDeleteAnd, forgive me, its pretty hard for me to feel sorry for taxing the tobacco industry. I know its an easy target, but if tobacco was more expensive, it might encourage people to actually stop smoking...thereby improving their health.
I mean, call me an idealist, i suppose...but somehow taking care of sick kids (or even sick young adults) seems to me like it shoudl be one of the number one priorities in this nation.
But, I guess not for Bush.
Raise taxes on tobacco?
ReplyDeleteGood. Considering that smoking-related illnesses are some of the biggest drains on the health care system as it is, I see no reason for them not to bear the brunt of the costs. If people want to smoke, let 'em -- they're going to pay the piper either early or late.
The "26 year old adult and $80,000 a year" canard is the new "Welfare Queen." Expect to hear that ringing loudly by conservatives.
On a separate subject, a question for anyone "pro-life" -- I've still yet to hear an answer to this:
If abortion is murder, then why don't we prosecute the mothers who have them? (The best defense I've heard is that pregnant women are "incapable of rational choices.")