By Adam Bitely
Today was the first day that Obama’s new tax on smokers took effect. Not only is the singling out of a minority group to pay for the majority wrong, this broke a campaign promise from Obama. It’s not like any of us ever expect politicians to keep their promises anyways. Jacob Sullum at Hit & Run had a great write up:
Today the federal cigarette tax rose from 39 cents to $1 a pack. This is the first tax hike signed by President Obama, and it breaks his promise not to raise taxes on people of modest means. In fact, it’s pretty much the most regressive way Congress could have picked to fund an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Still, the federal tax pales in comparison to the cigarette levies imposed by many states. The highest right now is New York’s, which is $2.75 a pack, on top of which Big Apple residents pay a $1.50 city tax, for a total of $5.25 in federal, state, and city taxes, plus the 8.4 percent sales tax, all of which pushes the retail price to $9 or $10. Since taking money from an unpopular minority is a lot easier than imposing a broad tax hike or cutting spending, many states are likely to raise their cigarette taxes this year.
This just further shows that we have nothing but statists around us showing us that we can do whatever they want us to do.
Yep, just another example of Government exerting force on a group.
comment4
ro ro ro freedom lolit abbs elwebs