Barack Obama promised, and Joe Biden echoed, that no family making under $250,000 would see any kind of tax increase. He was not just talking income taxes, he said ALL taxes. That pledge was broken on the 1st of April when the tax on a pack of cigarettes was increased. The poor are the greatest users of tobacco and thus this tax will disproportionately affect them. A person who smokes one pack a day will pay around $30 a month in taxes or $360 a year.
“I can make a firm pledge,” he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” [emphasis mine] Breitbart
I have no problem if people want to smoke. It is legal to smoke and if people want to use tobacco then that is their business. However, government claims that people should not smoke and it tries to discourage it. This is one of the stated reasons for the tax increase. In reality, only about 10% of people who try to quit actually succeed so the tax will not likely spur many people to give up the habit though I am hoping more people find the strength to quit.
I want them to quit, not because it is bad for their health, though that is a good reason, but to keep the government from collecting on their vices. The major reason is because the government will use the money to fund children’s health care. Only in America would we tax an addictive, unhealthy product and use the money for health care. While Obama claimed he would pay for his programs, including health care, by taxing the rich, he is actually doing it on the backs of the poor. Additionally, there will need to be about 20 million new smokers to pay for the expansion of children’s health care. Where will the additional money come from, especially if more people are actually successful and quit? The government used this backdoor method to expand children’s health care and will now go after any method to pay for it including raising taxes in general.
I know that the liberals will complain that this is another “right wing lie” by the conservatives who are not happy with Obama. The hero worship in them prevents them from seeing the truth. The reality is that Obama said “NOT ANY OF YOUR TAXES” when discussing those making under $250,000 but the increase on tobacco is an increase on those making much less than that.
I encourage smokers to make a serious attempt to quit. There are products on the market to aid in smoking cessation (one of which is advertised at the top of my sidebar) and smokers should avail themselves of these in order to quit.
Quitting will be good for your health and it will deprive the vultures in DC of your money. It will hurt their plan to pay for health care on your backs and it will take one of the chains that bind you to government away. You see, this is just one tax increase. If they need more money they can always raise the tax on tobacco some more. Why wait until you have paid them a fortune?
Quit now, for your health and to screw those in DC who lied to you about raising your taxes.
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