Federal Cigarette Tax Hike Proposed to Fund Medical Care
(CNSNews.com) - Two senators have proposed increasing the federal tax on tobacco to fund the reauthorization of a program that pays for children's medical care, a move the tobacco industry says would be unfair and unreliable. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) released a statement in June supporting an increase in the tobacco tax to fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), which is due for reauthorization this year. Kennedy and Hatch were the original sponsors of the program when it was created in 1997. The federal government has spent nearly $40 billion on S-CHIP since its inception, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The program serves approximately 6.6 million children and about 670,000 adults. Full Story
posted by HeavyHanded at
6:38 PM
2 Comments:
How can the government continue to use tobacco taxes to fund it's existence! Maybe it will raise the money to fund a good program, but then quit bashing the tobacco companies. Gosh, if there would be a significant decrease in smoking, our federal & state governments would be a mess!
By
Anonymous, at 12:28 PM
One begins to wonder if that isn't their ultimate goal; tax tobacco out of existence.
Perhaps a new cottage industry would spring up - black market tobacco - much like liquor and prohibition of yesteryear.
We do depend on tobacco taxes to fund a few of our 'favorite things.' Believe me when I say that big government will 'find' other tax revenue to replace the lost tax revenue courtesy of tobacco.
By
HeavyHanded, at 5:48 PM
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