Stogie News: SCHIP Cigar Tax Increase to be Unveiled Today
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009[UPDATE: According to the IPCPR, the tax cap will be 40 cents per large cigar. Please click here for their full press release. The tax portions of the bill can be downloaded here (pdf) and the full bill can be downloaded here (285 page pdf).]
Well, it looks like today we’ll all finally learn just what the new federal tax will be on cigars. No more speculation and rumor. The facts will be laid out in the bill to reauthorize the 11-year-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which is slated for a vote in the House of Representatives Wednesday or Thursday.
Federal budget crunchers were working the numbers Monday, trying to see if everything adds up. Apparently, the increased tax revenue—largely from a cigarette tax boost—isn’t now sufficient to expand and fund a five-year plan. So, there’s consideration of shortening the time frame and coming back again in a few years.
As I write this Monday night, the final SCHIP bill hasn’t been released. It’s anticipated this morning, and the first place you’re likely to find it is on the House Rules Committee site or on Thomas.gov. Groups involved with tobacco, such as the IPCPR and the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, will also be on top of it.
For most of you reading this, the heart of the issue is what happens with large cigars, the category that includes premium sticks. One provision that could have devastated small cigar shops, a floor tax on inventory, has been shelved. And the plan to boost the cap on individual cigars—currently about a nickel—appears also to have been scaled back.
When President Bush vetoed the previous SCHIP bill, the cap was $3. There has been intense lobbying to push it down more. A few weeks ago, a number of reports put the cap proposal at $1. Over the weekend, a couple of retail shop owners told me they’d heard the cap would be 40-45 cents. A GOP staffer on the Hill told Patrick S on Monday that he was hearing cap figures between 39 cents and $1.
Jeff Borysiewicz, an executive at the gigantic Corona Cigar Co. and executive vice president of Cigar Rights of America, said Monday night that even if the tax ends up at the lowest of those ranges, he won’t be satisfied.
“I don’t feel good about what’s happened,” he told me. The group was among those arguing for a percentage tax increase equivalent to the 156.4 percent boost for cigarettes. That would have put the cigar cap between 12 and 13 cents.
Borysiewicz said he’s convinced that a tax even in the 40-cent range will have significant negative repercussions on manufacturers, importers, retailers and customers as it ripples through the market.
As you read the figures in the new bill, bear this in mind: What you see today is almost certain to become law. SCHIP enjoys strong support from key GOP and Democratic lawmakers, and what the House approves is what the Senate will vote on. Though there has been a lot of talk about having the legislation ready for a Jan. 20 signing by President Obama on Inauguration Day, I’m told it’s highly unlikely the Senate will vote by then.
photo credit: Stogie Guys
SCHIP: because “kids” up to 30 years of age in families making up to $80K annually just have to get the government to supply their medical care–c’mon you don’t expect these families to do with a small LCD TV or fewer lattes do you?
It’s all good to me. I dont mind paying a little extra to help out
We all knew it was going to be around the $.50 to $1 for months. And honestly it doesnt bother me at all. It’s just the price we pay for one of the finger things in life.
All i care about is still being able to smoke in VA. If they take that way, then im mad. I’m also mad that my fellow BOTL’s cant even smoke outside, now that bothers me. But paying a couple extra cents for my cigar to help out, not at all.
Happy Smokin’!
- dennis
With all due respect, Dennis, you completely overlook how this bill will devastate much needier children and families in the cigar-producing region. While you might approve paying $1 more per cigar now, I doubt you would if you understood the far-reaching consequences SCHIP is about to impose.
Patrick A wrote an excellent piece about how the town of Esteli, Nicaragua, is going to lose good jobs, many of which provide child care and scholarships. And since the vast majority of cigar rollers are women, they will be adversely affected. The same will be true across the Dominican and Honduras.
Patrick also points out that “the economic devastation would include not only cigar rollers, tobacco harvesters, and others all across the Caribbean, but also hardworking retailers in the U.S.”
It’s OK to want to help children or the poor, Dennis, but SCHIP poses serious unintended consequences. Such is often the case with well-intended government mandates that aim to redistribute wealth.
This is the sort of insider information–complete with insider sources–that I would only expect from the Stogie Guys. Thanks for all you do for today’s cigar smokers!
I’ve done some reading on this the last time it came up in Congress and I have a serious problem supporting this as a child is defined until the age of 30.
The other thing I worry about is at some point, this program may expand to include other items of interest that are not good for us. Soda and fast food immediately come to mind. The redistribution of wealth and increased government control over the people they supposedly serve worries me.
Of course the program will expand to tax other items in the future…there’s no other way it can continue to exist. As they increase taxes on tobacco products, more people will be encouraged to quit smoking, especially cigarettes. The supporters of these types of taxes claim that this is one of their goals. That’s great, but then the revenue projections of the increased taxes fall short. If your family budget falls short for some reason, you cut back on spending; the government knows no rules like that, though. If their budget falls short because fewer people are paying taxes on whatever item (cigarettes, gas, income), they start looking for ways to raise taxes on other items. For instance, in Chicago a year or two ago, people started buying more bottled water rather than using tap water for drinking. The city utility ran a budget shortfall so the city council proposed raising taxes on bottled water to help the utility. The point here is that if non-smokers don’t care about the taxes on tobacco products being raised, don’t ask me to care about their sacred cow being axed when the blood’s been exhausted from ours.
Honestly, I’m with Dennis. I really don’t care…we can get upset about it and bitch about it and blame the Dems and the Reps till we are blue in the face. Sure in a perfect world the Government would cut back and balance the budget but we all know that place is no where to be found. We all knew that this wasn’t an IF SCHIP gets passed, but WHEN.
I don’t like it but what do we do? Do nothing? Let children go without preventative care so when they get older they are a bigger burden and turn around and say we should’ve had a program for early screening? What if you were a family depending on SCHIP, would you feel the same way? What do you do when there is a strong demand for what some call an essential program but no money to pay for it? Add to it no one wants to pay any additional taxes. Where does the money come from…you tax the “unhealthiest” habit till its dry and then move on to the next…
I see both sides and I understand that people in other countries will suffer but in the end, as always, in every industry, the final buck gets passed to the customer and I’m okay with that.
By “okay with that” I mean that I accept it since nothing can be done about it since cigar smokers don’t make up enough of a voting block to have any impact.
Dennis and Jerry-
I realize that people have different views of the role of government, so you may think that expanding SCHIP is a good thing while others don’t.
But accepting that this is something the government spend tax dollars on doesn’t mean accepting how it government collects revenues to pay for it. They are two distinct issues and both need to stand on their own merits.
If you accept that this is money well spent, the question is why is the burden being pushed onto such a small group of people (particularly considering that tobacco users tend to have less income than nonsmokers)? Why not a small increase on a tax that is widely distributed?
The answer – of course – is that it is easier to pick on the weak and the unpopular, than to make the case that this is something we should all pay a little to support. But that is bullying, and my 8 year old sister knows that bullying is wrong.
I don’t have much of an issue with defining a child being 30 (although 25 seems more realistic to me) IF, and only if, the person is enrolled full-time in college. My fiancee lost her family’s health care coverage when she turned 22. The coverage the university offers costs close to $3,500, which we cannot afford in addition to tuition and housing. We even contemplated getting married at the court house early just to get her insurance in the case of an emergency, prior to our regular wedding date.
The biggest issue I had with SCHIP was the floor tax on B&Ms, so I’m glad to see that pulled. It would have put small shops like the one I work at out of business in a time when we should be encouraging small business investment.
Got this press release from the Republican Ways and Means Committee. Passed along without comment:
Democrats Blowing Smoke on SCHIP Funding
The Truth: Poor People Pay Today, We All Pay Tomorrow
Democrats have decided to pay for their proposal for a massive SCHIP expansion, which dilutes the focus on poor children, with tens of billions of dollars in additional tobacco taxes.
Click on picture for video
Short of finding at least 22.4 million new smokers (the number required to adequately fund SCHIP) Democrats will be forced to either kick millions of children off of health insurance or raise taxes on all of us by tens of billions of dollars.
Click on picture for video
It is irresponsible to fund a children’s health program, particularly one targeted at vulnerable children, with a declining revenue stream. We cannot treat our nation’s children like a house that we abandon when we can no longer afford to make payments.
Revenue to Fund Expansion Will Soon Disappear, Causing All of Us to Pay More:
Democrats will Raise Taxes on Poor and Low Income Families:
Democrats Add Tax Increases on Top of Tax Increases:
Is This Any Way to Stimulate the Economy?:
###
I agree with your Patrick…thats why I said “you tax the “unhealthiest” habit till its dry and then move on to the next…” I agree that this tax should be spread out but most folks want the “unhealthy smokers” to go first.
Other than accepting it, what other option is there but to accept and deal with it? We don’t have the votes, they do…I don’t like it…but there isn’t much left to do…so pass the lube so its not so painful.
Even the Press Release doesn’t say what we can do…cause even they know the votes solid…like I said, pass the lube.
Maybe living in DC all my life just gives me a jaded sense of politics. Nothing really changes here…
You’re too much, Jerry. Pass the lube… But seriously, Stogie Guys — thanks for keeping on top of this. Just look out for Jerry and his lube.
Jerry,
I disagree that this is money well spent. Constitutionally, the federal government has no duty and no right to provide health care for anybody. When they do it tends to be vastly inferior to privately available health care and it drives up the prices of the health care that everyone else is paying for.
Something to think about: if you want to provide this service (debatable that it should be provided, but I’ll skip that), should there be any new tax to pay for it? IMO, the federal government already collects more than enough in taxes and levies. The problem is not that there isn’t enough revenue coming in–the problem is that they always spend more than they collect and the level of waste is just astronomical. I say no new taxes or tax increases until the assorted elected nitwits can use what they’ve already got properly.
Dennis and Jerry,
Its Mitch from Next Generation Cigars. I just got a call from one of my lobbyist friends in DC, and apparently there is very little knowledge on what the tax will be. He is hearing rumors similar to what we are hearing, but he is also hearing higher ones as well. I am sure that it will be a race to see whether SG or nextgenerationcigars.blogspot.com gets updated with the news first. The meeting for the bill isnt till 5, and it hasn’t even been numbered yet, so who knows when this will all go down. Thanks for being a great source, and hopefully cigar bloggers like us can help influence. While I agree with you, that we are not a large enough voting block, we usually have power friends (although mine, Norm Coleman R-MN is currently not seated), and we bloggers can usually make some noise when we have to.
If you hear anything, please shoot me an email.
Mitchell Hislop
Also, TARP is big in the news today, and is also on the docket for the same meeting as S-CHIP. Who knows what that will do.
The tax on RYO goes from $1.0969 per pound to $24.62 per pound (not a typo).
2009 & 2010 – $.25 per pack
2011 & 2012 – $.50 per pack
2013 & 2014 – $.75 per pack
2015 and beyond – $1.00 per pack
Since it was a foregone conclusion that such a tax would pass in some form, it could have been much worse.
I wonder if the $25 roll-your-own tax makes it cost the same as finished cigarettes.
dmjones – I hear you and agree with some of what you said. Its not right, I don’t like it, but it is what it is…and I can tell my wife that someone, some where is getting the health care they need thanks to me buying cigars.
The relationship between tobacco and health seldom seems to have distinctions made for how relatively harmless cigars and pipe tobacco are statistically. If the figures were looked at honestly, there would be no rationale for connecting them to a health bill other than the fact that “They are all tobacco”, as one politician has said. It amounts to discrimination by association.
I believe Obama is intelligent and honest enough to see this and politically wise enough to not want to start his horrendous tasks off in this way for the sake of pleasing people who can’t make distinctions.
The MYO/RYO tobacco industry will be ruined by this tax on Roll-your-own tobacco.
To go from $1.0969 per pound to $24.62 per pound is outrageous.
Most of these companies are ‘Mom & Pop’ Family operations, much like the Cigar Industry.
Jerry,
And because you can tell her that, the general public of this country should never be hatin’ on tobacco users…they should be throwing us a frickin’ parade!
The levels of taxation are not as bad as I feared they would be, but I still fear it’s just the start. The most startling thing is the increase of the RYO tax. My step-son does the RYO specifically because they claim to not have the same additives that finished cigarettes have (if anyone can show evidence disputing this, I would be interested in seeing it) and because they are much cheaper than finished cigarettes. Faced with this kind of idiotic tax increase, I’m telling him to stock up on his tobacco in advance.
I was going to stock up on cigars in advance as well, but if the cap holds at $.40 per stick, I probably won’t do too much of that. I’m still against the increase on principal, and if I could avoid the tax by purchasing on an Indian reservation or something I would, but that price is at least not a deal-breaker.
Just another sad example of the U.S. taxpayer getting nickeled and dimed to death by big brother who knows better than us. I guarantee that SCHIP will cause a spike in purchases from the overseas and black markets from U.S. consumers.
Some great points by everyone. Kudos to SG for the post and info! And thanks to everyone who added additional info, i learned some new stuff.
You guys are right, we do get picked on because of our beautiful passion for cigars. We are and sadly most likely always be looked at in the wrong way. Which only makes it easier for us to get picked on.
Life’s tough, so smoke up! I hope they know we are not going anywhere and that im planning on a national herf day!!
- dennis
[...] SCHIP tax coverage? See here for the latest. Background information in these articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [...]
I’d rather the government just start going after a fraction of the sales tax money they dismiss in Internet sales of cigars by certain well-known retailers. That would not only raise revenue for them to squander as they usually do, but it would also help level the competitive price playing field for B&Ms. And Jerry, if you’ve lived in DC all your life I can’t believe you trust politicians to administer SCHIP any better than they do any other entitlement program they extract from the rest of us.
heads up- whomever runs nextgenerationcigars.blogspot.com stole your blogger template.
I run next generation cigars. That is one of the built in blogger templates. It is different than Stogie Guys, and when I finally get around to moving the blog onto my own domain with wordpress it will look totally different. I had that template before I even visited SG. It has been that template since I started the blog. Please dont assume that since two pages, who both use the same platform, look similar means someone stole from someone. I have chatted with the Stogie Guys about doing a post, and I am listed in their blogroll.
Mitchell-
We started out publishing with blogspot using a slightly customized version of the same basic blogger template you use now. Over time it evolved more and more, and eventually we left blogger for wordpress and we ended up with our current look. However some similarities to that original still remain.
That’s the reason for any similarities (which as far as I can tell is really just the background).
No worries.
The TARP legislation today/tomorrow is merely new restrictions on the use of the funds – the idea being to give certain Dems cover when they vote on the next $350 billion in the near future.
As for SCHIP, as appalling as the tobacco tax part of the bill is, the budgetary gimmicks used to mask/cover the cost of the bill are even worse in their dishonesty in my opinion. The bill sets up the payments for the final authorized year of the program (FY2013) to make the budgetary baseline cost for FY2014 $6 billion, down from $17.4 billion in FY 2013 (a fictional 66% cut that will never happen) and requires the prepayment of a percentage of FY2014 corporate taxes in final quarter FY2013, creating a false pay-for that leaves a gap in FY2014 revenue that must be plugged at a later date.
[...] now there’s another reason not to hotlink. In the US, a law has just come into effect levying a new federal tax on cigars. Naturally, the anti-smoking lobbyists, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are very pleased. So [...]
[...] the House of Representatives voted 289-139 in favor of extending and expanding SCHIP. As we reported Tuesday, among the bill’s numerous tobacco tax increases is a 750 percent hike in the federal [...]
I realize this is a cigar site, and I’m quite grateful to the Stogie Guys for making the Jan. 13th version of this bill available, but I am APPALLED at the focus on and shrugging over the relatively minor (for now) tax increase on cigars while your fellow non-cigar smokers are practically being hauled off in boxcars. Don’t you realize they WILL come back after you???
Here’s a note I’ve been posting around to some of the newspaper comment sites in various forms. I think it would do folks here quite well to read it too.
===
This bill suffers from one major weakness: SCHIP will be mainly funded by a 200% tax increase on most smokers, but there’s more to it than that. It also incorporates a truly MASSIVE tax increase on one of the poorest of the poor minority groups in the entire country, a group that’s poorer on average than blacks, hispanics, senior citizens, or single mothers. I’m speaking of smokers who cannot afford to buy regular cigarettes but who are honest enough to avoid the black market by simply buying loose tobacco and rolling their own. – - – - –
This minority group will be hit with a TWO THOUSAND PERCENT TAX INCREASE over the next few months if Obama signs the SCHIP bill: taxes on roll your own loose tobacco will go from just over a dollar a pound up to almost twenty-five dollars a pound. This tax increase will pour huge amounts of money into the black market, increasing law enforcement and prison spending, and send more money into supporting the next terrorist strike on America. – - – - –
This bill should NOT be supported until the taxation to support it is shared among ALL Americans who love children… not just smokers.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
The government is taxing their cash cow to death. You cant fund every project with tobacco. but somehow the government manages to do it.
Comment #27 by John is a terrible attitude/stance: “Going after the ‘Big-Guys’ would mean more for me”.
Now, John…
Without the “Big Guys” many of the brands that “B&M” retailers profit from today would have never been developed, discovered or have gotten off of the ground: No Excalibur, Ashton, CAO, Cuba Aliados, Puros Indios ,Padron, Bauza, La Gloria Cubana, Rocky Patel or ALEC BRADLEY, just to name a few.
I stopped doing business with my local tobacconist many years ago, way before all of the heavy taxation came on, because he was quite simply gouging the hell out of people, myself included, so I found a better one, a few miles away.
Not all “B&M” shops are gougers; it’s quite the opposite: they’re institutions built on trust, and careful “one-on-one” customer service, that can can ONLY be found at the local “B&M”.
The “B&M” serves, and has always served a unique role within the Cigar Industry: there has ‘always’ been mail order, but it’s off to the B&M for “that “Special Smoke” that I won’t pay for an entire box of, or for a new lighter,butane, Pipes, Pipe Tobacco, pipe cleaners a new humidor or a special gift for a friend or relative.
For Example: I would only go to my favorite B&M to buy a new Pipe, because the owners know me, and can ‘customize’ informed suggestions to me, as to what would be a worthwhile purchase for me.
They do this because they want me to keep coming back.
The internet is new, but Mail-Order is anything but new. That which “John” thinks would “level the playing field”, might just be “Game-Over”- period…If the big “Certain Well-Known Vendors” start tanking… who are you going to get your cigars from, since a good many of these “Well-Known Vendors” are also wholesalers.
Basically, I think that the B&M s have their unique place, and when entering into such a business, it’s good to “know your place”, and to use it to your advantage.
The B&M offers a different kind of “specialty” service: this is called “niche-differentiation”, and successful B&M s should don’t even think of “competing with” the mail-order houses…
The personalized service is the “Brick and Mortar’s” strength, and you can’t order that online.
successful B&M s shouldn’t even think of “competing with” the mail-order houses.
The tax on RYO goes from $1.0969 per pound to $24.62 per pound (not a typo).
That’s just way too far! I don’t like, or think that Cigars should be viewed in the same light as Cigarettes, but I believe in “Freedom Of Choice”, and a tax increase of that magnitude clearly targets low-income people, quite unfairly.
I believe that anyone, as an adult should have the right to choose to drink, or smoke without unfair taxation…
The RYO tax is criminal, but the who;e SCHIP issue is really just the first “crack-in-the-dam”…This is just the way they did gun control: In INCREMENTS.
SCHIP expansion is the ground work for universal government health care. While some may like that scenario the reality is once this is in place the Fed can and will regulate all aspects of your life by regulating any act on your behalf the Fed deems hinders your health.
[...] is that many of them have been the same. With the recent announcement of the SCHIP tax proposal (as reported by the Stogie Guys) and Lew Rothman, of JR Cigars, putting everyone in a panic with the latest catalog, it seems [...]
Yes, once the Federal Government gets control of the healthcare system, we’re going to become “subjects”, and the Government will then assume the “authority” to regulate anything that may hinder your health, since they’re footing the bill for your healthcare… it’s called “SOCIALISM”, and it has no place in the U.S.
People come from all over the world to take-advantage of our ‘ahem-”screwed up” healthcare system, when their own Country’s system (e.g.: Canada, U.K.) has a backlog that is simply staggering, and won’t afford them timely, or appropriate lifesaving treatments, due to an overtaxed, and highly bureaucratic system.
As far as the Stogie Guys, and Lew Rothman, and this [...] (?) creating a panic… I can’t really blame anyone for panicking, or rather taking preemptive action, in the face of a possible gargantuan floor-tax, AND the possibility of a cap of up to $3.00 going into place, especially when you’re sitting on some really expensive merchandise, that will never move once that happened.
Bob wrote, ” AND the possibility of a cap of up to $3.00 going into place”
I must confess that I’m not familiar with all the terminology being used here, but thinking in terms of anything using the phrase “up to” is simply not real. The SCHIP taxes are *highly* unlikely to bring in the projected income and with the additional expenses of fighting a black market and the impossibility of removing “health care for children” once it is locked in place and families have relinquished whatever private health insurance they may have had for their kids the government will be in *very* desperate need of more funds. They may turn to alcohol, but it’s more likely they’ll attack the remainder of the smoking market first. A $3 “cap” could very easily turn into something far different.
There’s a site that the Obama folks have set up as a “public ear” for commenting. Audrey Silk of NYC has led off with a strong Anti SCHIP comment there and I followed up on it in more depth than I’ve done here. If anyone here wants to try adding to it feel welcome, but take some time to write any entries carefully and substantively: CLASH has put out a fairly major press release on this and it’s possible the posting will get some media attention: we want to put ourselves in the best light possible.
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=0878000000059aS
ALSO: the sign in process is painless: even if you’re not going to comment, sign in and add a vote for the comment (it actually counts as ten votes for some unknown reason… must be Democrats counting…. LOL!) and if you have a bit more time, type SCHIP into the search engine and do up or down votes on other SCHIP articles that have been left for Obama. Moving our concerns up on the voting ladder could make a difference.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
P.S. if anyone wants to contact me directly I’m Cantiloper over on the aol system. If my mailbox is full just try back in a few hours.
It’s not too late to email your Senators and state your opinion on this matter. The reason our country is in the shape that it is in is that citizens are lazy!
“Smoke ‘em while you got ‘em,” “I’ll get mad and do something when…,” “we should count ourselves lucky that it is only 40 cents,” etc. contributes to this complacency. What is wrong is doing nothing.
If you support this bill, write your elected reps, if you don’t write, email, get a bumper sticker, tell your friends, whatever. Just do SOMETHING!
It is not wrong to get upset, it is not wrong to question those whom we elect, it is not wrong to peacefully state your opinion to those that can help affect a change.
If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.
BTW, End the FED.
http://www.endthefed.us/repeal
[...] According to Cigar Rights of America the SCHIP tax increase will be slightly higher than originally reported. Read the press release here for [...]
We the government again can’t figure out a fair way to pay for this program we have created so we have decided to take the simple path buy taking away freedom from a select group of folks. This is the only way we can make money how could we possibly tax the good folks that don’t smoke only people that smoke are qualified to pay for this wonderful program every one else gets a free pass. We have a moral obligation to ensure uninsured children have coverage smokers are nasty people from hell and deserve to pay way more taxes than anyone else for there freedom of choice.
[...] of pipe tobacco, you may have wondered, as we have, about the SCHIP provision to boost the per pound federal tax on pipe tobacco from $1.0969 to $2.8311, while roll-your-own [...]
[...] hit small cigar shops with millions of dollars in tax liabilities for their warehoused sticks, is out of this current bill: For most of you reading this, the heart of the issue is what happens with large cigars, the [...]
How about a $5.00 a box tax on Oreo’s and a $2.50 tax per big Mac! Overweight issues kill more than a real good Cigar. Leave the smoker alone and tax the junk food. Maybe when we fly next time there will not be someone overflowing onto you seat from theirs while eating a super size kit kat bar.
Niki out…..
Amen to that one brother! I wrote exactly that to my state Senator…well, it went over about as well as a fart in a space helmet.
But let’s keep trying on this one, squeaky wheels get the oil.
I’m sick and tired of these politicians who attempt to make themselves look like caring people when they’re actually robbing one or more sectors of the working population. The usual B.S. to smooth things over – and make it sound acceptable – is the term “Sin Tax”.
How about having these politicians take some of the money they line their pockets with and use it to pay for this S-CHIP
idea? I’d bet we’d hear a unanimous “HELL NO” from them.
I don’t understand why cigar smoker’s (or cigarette) should have to pay for Children’s healthcare. I don’t have any children. There are already tax credits for people with kids. They should be reduced to pay for this.
This entire topic can be summed up like this: Obama came in PROMISING he wasn’t going to raise taxes on ANYONE making less than $250,000/year. Here it is ONE month into office and here it goes already! He’s raising a tax (regardless of which one(s) ). So much for the “CHANGE”.
I’m in kind of a unique position here – my husband and I both smoke RYO cigarettes, and this tax has significantly raised how much we pay for our tobacco. We’ll be going from roughly $48 for 3 pounds, to $120 for 3 pounds (the usual amount we purchase at one time). We tend to smoke about 6 pounds a month, allowing for the tobacco “dust” that we don’t use, so our costs went from about $100 to $240.
Previously, we smoked American Spirit Organics, and two cartons a week were $130 – so this is still a significant savings over what we were spending before.
I’m also a mother of a child with a chronic and deadly illness – no private medical insurer anywhere in the country would ever cover him. We were not poor enough for medicaid. Risk Pools, should we need a surgery, wipe out every dime we have. We qualified for CHIP for only one year – when a surgery, costing $60,000, made us “poor” enough to qualify. My husband and I both owned small businesses, and we couldn’t get anyone to cover our son.
This tax will hit us the hardest, and yet I know what its like to be a beneficiary of this legislation. I know what its like to breathe, just for a year. I am ecstatic over its passage – you can not know what its like to be afraid of a disease when its punch is twofold – one, it harms your child and two, it devastates your finances.
Tax credits are meaningless – MEANINGLESS – when insurance companies can refuse to cover a sick child, and until the health care system is overhauled in this country, they can do just that. They can put you in position where your only option is bankruptcy, so that you destroy everything you have worked for because then, at least poor, your child can get medical coverage.
I hope that every, single person complaining about the tax lobbies for health care reform. Tobacco got screwed because they could get away with it, and it was easier than fixing the system where so many fall through the cracks or have to destroy themselves to get saved.
I, for one, will pay it happily – and continue to shout at the top of my lungs that families should not have to close businesses, bankrupt themselves, drain college funds, and hock family heirlooms to keep their child alive.
Being middle class should not be a risk.
[...] since the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP ) is about to be funded through massive tax increases on tobacco, including roughly 40 cents per smoke for premium cigars, I’ve got a new reply to this [...]
[...] since the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP ) is about to be funded through massive tax increases on tobacco, including roughly 40 cents per smoke for premium cigars, I’ve got a new reply to this annoying [...]
How dare you evil Conservatives QUIT smoking!
…a poor childs’ Health depends on YOU!!
I know this bill was already signed by President Obama. However, when does it actually go into effect? I want to be able to stock up a bit …. funds pemitting….before all the tax increase happens.
[...] SCHIP Cigar Tax Increase to be Unveiled Today @ Stogie Guys [...]
[...] On February 4th, President Obama signed into effect the recently proposed SCHIP legislation (as reported by Stogie Guys). SCHIP will go into effect as the current legislation sunsets on April 1, [...]
You mean we can all smoke to our hearts content now; Knowing that each cigar we smoke is helping some poor impoverished child somewhere?
KSC
That’s right! We all are smoking “for the children” now!
You know as a smoker, a single mom, and a manager of a tobacco store, I love comment #55!
You wouldn’t believe how many nonsmokers come into my store and make a disgusted face and say,”Eww, it smells like smoke in here!” I cant wait to throw that at one of them!!! I cant wait to use it on anyone who says anything anywhere about smoking!!!! lol! that cracked me up!! Thank you! That was awesome!
[...] On February 4th, President Obama signed into effect the recently proposed SCHIP legislation (as reported by Stogie Guys). SCHIP will go into effect as the current legislation sunsets on April 1, [...]
Fortunately, I just got a big 300 stick capacity humidor, and have been looking for goods to stash away, so I’ll likely be dropping some serious coin in the next few weeks.
But its a bit of a quandry…theres a 50/50 chance Comrade Obama will lift the embargo, and then we’ll be able to get Cubans again…and my humidor will already be stuffed. Whats a herfer to do ?
Renodino wrote, “But its a bit of a quandry…theres a 50/50 chance Comrade Obama will lift the embargo, and then we’ll be able to get Cubans again…and my humidor will already be stuffed. Whats a herfer to do ?”
Even if that happens they’ll probably be pretty expensive, particularly at first, so you might want to stock up about 4/5 of your space and leave that last fifth open!
Michael J. McFadden
Author of ‘Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
and now, the Kindle Edition of “TobakkoNacht! – The Story”
[...] The day that pot becomes legal in California, it’s going to double in price, at least. Mark my words. That what our government recently did to smokers with the S-CHIP legislation. The tax on loose tobacco – the kind that folks who roll their own smokes buy – went from a little over a buck a pound to $24.62 per pound. [...]
[...] with rising cigar prices, rising cigar taxes and rising economic anxiety, most of us are looking for ways to save money. With that in mind, here [...]
I enjoy sitting on my deck that is in the middle of my forty acres on the weekend, usually on Saturday night, and enjoy the smell and taste of a really good cigar coupled with a double shot of chilled, Tequila. I sit back and reflect on the day, week, the month and even the year. My thoughts drift to the future, will this be the year that Belinda and I get married? Is that tree going to get tall enough to shade the house, will I get the brush cleared out enough to build fences this year?
But like every American my thoughts also cover politics. Taxes make me the maddest.
I agree with taxing an unhealthy habit, however, what are you going to tax once that habit goes dry. My question to the current administration is this, what is next on your targeted tax list to pay for your programs? Whatever it is I’m not going to do it, I will not assist in funding programs that are unnecessary and not maintainable.
Are you going to put a meter on my water well and tax me on every gallon I use because I am not drinking it from a bottled? Are you going to tax the view I have off my back deck, and if so is that tax going to be by the mile, or for each tree that I can see? Maybe you’ll want to tax me for growing my own garden because each head of lettuce, each tomato is one less that a migrant work will not be picking, and don’t forget about the truck driver that will not be hauling it to the local grocery store for me to pick it up.
So, when I put out my the last cigar that I’ll be smoking, I dry up a source of revenue for you dear uncle Obama, and regrettably the life support for the many people that harvested, made and transported it to me. I would like to thank them for the years of service and their dedication to my weekend relaxation ritual.
PS thank you to several cigar makers, I’m stocked up until the end of 2009 at current rate of consumption.
An answer to:
comment number 3 by: Liberty and Cigars or Death
January 13th, 2009 at 9:48 am
It will help “American” children. It was not to help foreign children, men, or women, except the illegal ones in the U.S. Respect??? BS is more like it. “will devastate——in the cigar-producing region”. You meant foreign countries, right?? You don’t care about U.S. citizens that live from tobacco do you?
Screw Nicagagua. The less they produce, the more opportunity for US producers. It’s time our money helped U.S. people first and foeigners, maybe?? Screw the Dominican(Republic) and Honduras also and that would help the U.S. growers, wholesalers, retailers, and all related tobacco industries and workers.
Has there ever been a well intended government mandate? Has there ever been an action taken by the government before the politicians have found a way to profit from it?
Wealth will never be re-distributed if all do not have it in the first place. What happens is that the ones taking the actions will profit and others, (common, lowly, taxpayers), will pay.
Reply to:
comment number 5 by: jonsiddle
January 13th, 2009 at 10:10 am
“child is defined until the age of 30″ I can’t imagine an intelligent person saying such a stupid thing. I don’t agree with that either because the law says “adult” at age 18, in most states.
You bet it will expand and it will not be good for the non politicians simply because politicians wrote it. They never get everything right the first time. They can’t. And it will be rivised until their palms get greased in some way from it.
There is no such thing as “redistribution of wealth” but plenty of “increased government control over the people” and politicians don’t “serve the people”. First they act to ensure their careers and then they serve themselves and then, and then, and then, they do something for “those they serve”. If they served the people first this country would be in an outstanding condition. Everyone would have a job, medical/health/dental coverage, a home, a secure future, college degrees, etc., etc.. This nation’s citizens have the abilities in all catagories in order to make theirs a Super Nation. But alas, we also have politicians in control, not people that care about the citizens or this country. Otherwise we would not be giving away trillions of dollars a year of taxmonies to foreigners for nothing in return. We would not have deadbeats on handout programs. We would be taking care of U.S.A. and citizens first. The government has no money of its own. It has our (taxpayers) money. Politicians spend it and give it away as they please. Especially so if it will enhance their careers or they get a “piece of the pie”.
I don’t like the SCHIP either. WHY?? Because maybe 10% will be used for the intended purpose and 90% wil be used for administration and to fill administrators and politicians billfolds.
to:
comment number 7 by: Jerry @ The Stogie Review
January 13th, 2009 at 11:58 am
“in a perfect world the Government would cut back and balance the budget but we all know that place is no where to be found” Wrong, it could be found here. But will probably never happen because we can’t get enough honest people into the top positions of our government. It’s set up so that the politicians will always collectively rule as king of the country.
“Let children go without preventative care so when they get older they are a bigger burden and turn around and say we should’ve had a program for early screening?” WHAT have we had for the children up to now? Did I say that? Did you say that? Did your parents say that?
“What if you were a family depending on SCHIP”– What, “depending on SCHIP”?? How? Is this to be a program like welfare? Welfare was never meant to support families through 6 and 7 generations as it has. It was to be a temporary assistance program to help people get back onto their feet. It was not meant for the Jones, the Smiths, and the illegals to make careers, generation after generation, of living on welfare as they have. “What do you do when there is a strong demand for what some call an essential program but no money to pay for it”? “where does the money come from”? There is money. No more taxes needed. Just take a few trillion dollars a year of U.S. taxpayers monies from Uncle Sam’s worldwide welfare programs to foreigners and the money from illegals and several programs could be added and paid for very easily. Do you know the U.S. completely supports millions of foreigners? The twelve million known illegals in the U.S. are a very small part of U.S. welfare programs. “you tax the “unhealthiest” habit till its dry and then move on to the next” When are they going to get to tax alcohol as it should be taxed? If they taxed it heavily only well to do adults would have money to buy it. Therefore the amount of teens drinking would plummet and a tremendous number of lives would be saved, both young and old. Wouldn’t that be as much as or even more than an achievement as the SCHIP can be. But, politician’s associates, relatives, friends and business partners like their alcohol so that’s not going to happen because it would cost them more to drink. Ask Ted Kennedy if he would support such an actin.
“I see both sides and I understand that people in other countries will suffer but in the end, as always, in every industry, the final buck gets passed to the customer and I’m okay with that”.
Yes people in foreigh countries will suffer because of SCHIP. HEY dammit, let’s get into a realistic mindset, U.S. and it’s citizens first, all others last. That’s the predominate way most countries operate. They don’t send welfare checks and food stamps to foreigners in the foreigners’ country allowing them to live better than their neighbors and not have to earn a single penny. Stupid old Uncle Sam does. He is an easy touch. Be born in the U.S. and taken to a third world nation and you have a life of luxury ahead of you provided by the stupid taxpayers of the U.S.A. That should be stopped but it is not something the politicians will address. Maybe we, taxpayers each donate a dollar to them so it would be profitable to change the Constitution. If the bleeding hearts raise an outcry give them twenty foreigners or welfare careerists to care for for life without any assistance from any program supported by taxpayers. T
Thank you for staying with me if you have. If you would like to respond with a few choice names feel free to do so. I spent 30 years in service to my country in the military and feel the efforts I made and the efforts of like people spent to keep our country free, safe and strong is being severely erroded by outdated and ridiculous laws and strongly needed constitutional changes. But mostly by the ignorance of the backboneless politicians who are not looking out for our best interests. There may be a small number of “good politicians” but finding them is harder than finding that one good apple in a truckfull of rotten aplles.
TRUCK FULL ROTTEN APPLES.
Is it true that smokers are the only ones in America who love children? Nonsmokers should be ashamed of themselves for their wanton neglect of our next generation. In the future we will see laws passed requiring any who are not smoking to stand outside in the rain and the cold as punishment for their refusal to care for our young.
Quite aside from all that though, there is the issue of a 2,000% tax increase upon the poorest of the poor, those too destitute to even be able to buy ready-made cigarettes but are forced to roll their own from shreds of loose tobacco and scraps of paper. This group is arguably the single poorest well defined substantial demographic in the entire country and Obama’s SCHIP tax is going to hit them with OVER a 2,000% tax increase. Those who’ve been trying to save money without rolling their own have been smoking “little cigars.” THAT group will get hit with a 2,400% tax increase.
This goes beyond unjust and enters into the realm of criminal.
And, speaking of criminal, The black market after April 1st will be HUGE. We’ve already seen killings in cigarette turf wars and police car chases and those will multiply. Convenience stores will become better robbery targets than banks as a garbage bag of 100 cartons will be worth $7,000 to $10,000. We will **ALL** end up paying for increased security at those stores and for the trials and prisons, and we will **ALL** end up paying when that black market funds the next 9-11.
Michael J. McFadden,
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
I smoked for more than 40 years. I liked a good cigar. My last normally enjoyed “smokes” were Captain Blacks Little Cherry Cigars. I really, really liked them. But when I had time I would enjoy a mid level priced cigar. Not a premium, but not a rag either. Usual cost of 1 to 2 dollars. Many were foreign made because I liked to experiment. I also bought tons of cigars as presents for smoking buddies and still often buy a premium cigar for someone.
Then or now I would not hesitate to increase my costs of a non-essential such as smoking if it would help children. Smoking is non-essential to life, as is drinking alcohol or doing cocaine, the rich mans drug. I am however very reluctunt to favor programs drafted, rewritten, argued over, finalized, voted on and into law by people sitting in my government’s positions of power. Don’t I trust them, yes, even farther than a tank can be thrown. I don’t know of one I would trust with my life.
I can’t understand why they can’t work at a normal pace, as a normal people do. But not as quickly as a congressional pay raise is passed, when they want to vote themselves one, even during a nationwide freeze on raises, remember? Some received up to 40% raises while my lowly military pay was frozen.
In this case, SCHIP, it has taken 12 or more years to get close to conclusion. If an administration does not want to be associated with passing a unfavorable upon themselves law, it gets shelved for a future adminstartion. That is no way to operate a government. Face the good and bad parts of your job and do something about them. Otherwise you have not completely accomplished your duties, you’ve slacked off. Need I assimilate anything more with politicial job performance?
Why, in the 9 months or so of their annual jobs activities, (I really don’t like to use the word “job” in association with politicians. Have aother word that better describs what they do?), can’t they get more done? A lot of what they do is simple. Do they have to “make a federal CASE” of everything?. If they didn’t have to commisssion several panels, to be headed by relatives, friends and associates, to study for years how to open a childproof bottle, write a book about it, debate it, rewrite, and beat it to death over years and years it could be done in one day. Am I kidding, yes. That’s not politics, that is efficiency, effectiveness and accomplishment in a timely and reasonable manner. They could also show up for work on time. Watch them in action on TV and they are very often waiting for someone to show up and they play the elevator music as if it is placating the audience.
Most politicians were never a real, dedicated, Non-Commisioned Officer in the Army. If they had of been they would be more task accomplishment oriented than job security oriented and “how can I make a buck out of this busy”? I believe most were never ever really in possession of the abilities or knowledge in order to be a productive worker of any sort. They certainly cannot work with the other party very well at all and the Democrats now think they are the only party.
Back to the subject. Instead of SCHIP how about NMMMDJFPIFC? No More MultiMillion Dollar Jobs For
Politicians Insurance For Children. Or, NMETOHPOPRFPWLTBFAFMI? No More Eighty To One Hundred Percent Of Pay Retirements For Politicians With Lifetime Total Benifits For All Family Members Included. They should retire with no better package than the military retirees get. They absoutely, most certainly don’t do anywhere near as much for their country.
How about, ITOLIFTCIP? Increased Tax On Luxury Items For The Childrens Insurance Program. Talk about an outcry. The really influencial rich would be demanding of and threatning their congressmen and women and senators alike in order to get that killed, maybe in the interest of National Security. Why not that, anyting would suffice to make it go away and it would.
How about UATMFTCIA? Use America’s Taxpayers Monies For The Childrens Insurance Act? Better than paying for childrens care in foreign countries.
Dull, bored, emough already? Get the point???
On a lighter side, respnse to:
comment number 67 by: The Reason We Don’t Get Stoners Write Laws | The Sundries Shack
February 24th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
[...] The day that pot becomes legal in California, it’s going to double in price, at least. POT IS LEGAL IN 2 OR 3 CA CONTIES, OR SO THEY THINK. THEY GROW AND SELL IT OPENLY AS A MEDICAL ITEM. BUT THE FEDS, (DEA, FBI, ATFE), WILL INFORM YOU THAT IT IS A FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSE TO GROW, SELL OR SMOKE POT SO THEY RAID THE “MEDICAL SHOPS” AND THE “LEGAL GROWERS” AND CHARGE THE PEOPLE WITH COMMITTING CRIMINAL ACTS. GOOD. HOPE THEY JAIL ALL OF THEM. MEXICANS COME TO THOSE COUNTIES JUST TO GROW AND SELL POT. MINOR TRANSPORTATION NEEDED, LARGE BUYER BASE NEARBY, AND NOT ENOUGH FEDS TO WORRY ABOUT MUCH. IF THEY GET CAUGHT, THEY POST BAIL AND GO HOME TO MEXICO. THEIR BROTHER, COUSIN, UNCLE OR FRIEND TAKES OVER. “Mark my words. That what our government recently did to smokers with the S-CHIP legislation. The tax on loose tobacco – the kind that folks who roll their own smokes buy – went from a little over a buck a pound to $24.62 per pound”. WOW, THAT’S INCREDIBLE. WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT WANT TO PUNISH THE POOR MAN’S SMOKES SO UNFAIRLY? MAKES NO SENSE, BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO, IT’S A GOVERNMENT ACTION.
TO:
comment number 68 by: Stogie Commentary: Saving a Few Bucks
March 9th, 2009 at 12:24 am
[...] with rising cigar prices, rising cigar taxes and rising economic anxiety, most of us are looking for ways to save money. With that in mind, here [...]
HERE WHAT???
WANT TO SAVE SOME MONEY, QUIT. I DID AND IMMEDIATELY HAD $20.00 MORE A WEEK. THAT’S $1,040 A YEAR. LIKE GETTING NEARLY $.50 AN HOUR RAISE.
I REALLY GET DOWN ON POLITICIANS AS EVERYBODY CAN SEE. WELL, HERES MORE.
THINK OF THIS: NOT A SINGLE POLITICIAN OR A SINGLE ONE OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS, WILL LOSE A JOB, A H0ME, A CAR, A COLLEGE EDUCATION, MEDICAL COVERAGE, INSURANCE, FOOD, HEALTH NEEDS, LIFE ESSENTIALS OR ANYTHING ELSE WHATSOEVER DUE TO THE CURRENT CRISIS IN AMERICA. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE AN ABUNDANCE OF EVERYTHING THEY NEED OR SIMPLY WANT. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO SPEND AS MUCH AS ALWAYS. THEY WILL CONTINUE TO TRAVEL AND OR VACATION EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD. (THAT’S VERY OFTEN AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE.) THEY WILL NOT SUFFER ONE BIT, BUT WILL ACTUALLY PROSPER. POLIITICANS ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL PROSPER IN GOOD AND BAD TIMES. THEY ARE INSULATED FROM PROBLEMS CAUSED BY FINANCES BECAUSE THEY ARE POLITICIANS.
CURRENTLY, I BELIEVE THEY ARE OR ARE GETTING READY TO BUY TREMENDOUS CHUNKS OF AMERICA. AT THE RIGHT TIME THEY WILL FOLLOW THE LEAD OF EXPERIENCED AND PROVEN MULTI MILLIONAIRS AND MULTI BILLIONAIRS AND DO JUST THAT. BUT IT WILL NEVER BE KNOWN FOR IT WILL BE HIDDEN IN OTHERS NAMES OR FAKE NAMES AND STORED IN OFF SHORE ACCOUNTS. “BELIEVE IT OR NOT” THEY ARE NOT FOOLS BUT MOST ARE EXTREMELY GREEDY. THAT’S WHY THEY USE TAXPAYERS MONEY INSTEAD OF THEIR OWN. LOOK AT POLOSI. SHE DEMANDED A 757 TO TAKE HER BACK AND FORTH FROM CA TO DC. COMMERICAL FLIGHTS ARE WHAT SHE AND ALL OTHER POLITICIANS, EXCEPT THE TWO PRESIDENTS, SHOULD BE USING. NOBODY WANTS TO HARM THE OLD LADY SO SHE WOULD BE SAFE ON COMMERICAL, SO WOULD THE OTHERS. (AS MILITARY MEMBERS MUST DO, SHE SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO LIVE WHERE SHE WORKS OR WORK WHERE SHE LIVES, ALONG WITH FAMILY, OR LEAVE FAMILY IN CA AND VISIT A COUPLE TIMES A YEAR, OR WORSE YET ONCE IN 15 MTHS.) SAVE THE COUNTRY SOME MONEY WITH COMMERICAL FLIGHTS. NO, NO, NO, WITH COMMERICAL SHE COULD NOT FLY HER FAMILY AND FREINDS AROUND. AND AFER TAKING OFFICE SHE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO TOUR THE WORLD AND MEET WITH LESS THAN FRIENDLY TO THE U.S. COUNTRIES LEADERS EXPRESSING TO THEM AND AGREEING WITH THEM THAT THE U.S. WAS WRONG ON MANY ITEMS OF INTERNATIONAL ISSUE. I CONSIDER THAT ACT AS ONE OF A TRAITOR.
SAVING MONEY: THAT IS NOT DONE WHEN THE U.S. BUILDS A 50 TO 100 MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL IN IRAQ FJOR VISITING POLITICIANS, U.S. AND OTHERS. AND IT ISN’T SAVING U.S. ANY MONEY WHEN POLITICIANS SPEND BILLIONS A YEAR GALLAVANTING AROND THE GLOBE UNDER THE THINLY VEILED DISGUISE OF “WORK”. GOING TO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN TO “VISIT THE TROOPS”. CAN’T STACK THAT BS ANY HIGHER, IT REACHED ITS ZENITH DECADES AGO, JUST AFTER THE AIRPLANE WAS INVENTED. WHEN THEY SPEND 8HRS VISITING WITH COACHED REAR ECHELON TROOPS AND FOUR DAYS IN COUNTRY WITH THE GENERALS ITS PRUE AND SIMPLE BS. A VACATION AND THEY CAN BRAG THAT THEY VISITED THE TROOPS. THEY DON’T HAVE A DAY WITHOUT A SHOWER, A SOFT BED OR GREAT FOOD. THOUSANDS OF TROOPS ARE TAKEN FROM NORMAL DUTIES TO PROVIDE GROUND TRANSPORTATION AND SECURITY. TWENTY FOUR SEVEN THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO JETS HIGH AND TWO OR THREE HELICOPTERS LOW IN THE AIR AT ALL TIMES THEY ARE IN COUNTRY. I SUGGEST THIS, WHEN THEY ARRIVE IN COUNTRY GIVE THEM A FULL LOAD OF COMBAT GEAR WITH RIFLE AND KEEP THEM AT A FORWARD OPERATIONS BASE FOR A WEEK AND SEE IF THEY EVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN OR DO IT THE FIRST TIME. “EITHER THAT OR STAY THE HELL HOME”.
TRY TO KEEP YOUR JOB AND PAYING TAXES. WE HAVE OUR ESTEMEED POLITICIANS TO CARE FOR AND SUPPORT AND ALSO WE HAVE TO PROTECT AND SUPPORT HALF THE WORLD. WE EVEN SEND A LOT OF MONEY EACH YEAR TO RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA.
[...] stuff like an HDTV and a nice RP humidor. Until today I’d completely forgotten about the SCHIP tax increase poised to hit in just a few days. I’m really not opposed to some taxes, but taxing [...]
[...] more information please visit The Stogie Guys who are (as always) first to reveal legislation-related cigar news. If you enjoyed this article, [...]
Have any of the “so-called” cigar smokers above who insist they are ambivalent to paying a little more to “help the children” seen what has happened to the cigarette industry in the past 20 years? The boobs in Washington and most state houses will come back to the well time and time again because it is people like those above who lack the intellect and backbone to recognize that one of their true pleasures in life represents a revenue stream ripe for the sucking. Smoke ‘em while you got ‘em, boys!
This is a regressive tax on lower incomes. 40 cents on a $2 cigar is a 20% tax. 40 cents on a $10 cigar is only a 4% tax. So the rich feel nothing while the middle class feels the bite. Thanks a lot Democrats! The working class needs to figure out these people are not your friends.
[...] are also plenty of reasons for such consolidation. Larger companies can better adjust to the new tax and regulatory burdens that cigars now face and combining sales forces and distribution channels [...]
[...] Obama said in his speech that he would visit Tampa, Florida to have a townhall on the issue today. I can think of no better place for such an event. Tampa, after all, has been ground zero for the devastation caused by the SCHIP tobacco tax increase. [...]
[...] behind the scenes. When it came to making a public stand, Meek repeatedly voted for the massive SCHIP cigar tax hike, twice in 2008 and again in 2009 to pass the bill that eventually was signed into law by President [...]