March 2009 tax increase?

[macjoe53]

Originally Posted by thebiglebowski

we have a whole separate room for this type of discussion around legislation, don't we? and yeah, i don't appreciate being called an a**hole, either...

Which is why the political policy exists. You can belong to a political party and still be against their actions to raise taxes.

This subject is something we need to talk about in a manner respectful to all members.

[Totemic]

I'm not sure what the current form of the law is, but the version that was vetoed by Bush had a 6000% federal excise tax on cigars.
(No, that's not a typo, that's 6000%).

[aich75013]

Nevermind.

[oldforge]

This article (http://online.barrons.com/article/SB...lenews_barrons) indicates that SCHIP is set to expire in March, 2009.

While the original legislation had that horrible cigar tax language it is unclear what will be in the new bill.

Don't panic--yet.

[macjoe53]

The legislation which was vetoed twice last year was not - if I remember correctly - written and supported by just one of the parties. It was strongly supported by both parties because anyone opposing the bill was portrayed as being against the "children". That is why everyone should start calling and writing their congress people and senators.

When you do, remind them that Hawaii experimented with "universal child healthcare" and had to eliminate it after seven months because the program ran out of money. One of the reasons it ran out of money was because families that could afford health care for their children cancelled it so they would be eligible to get on the government dole. This is something the proponents of SCHIP has repeatedly said would not happen.

[texasbadbob]

I was just wanted to know what the new tax would be not start a war. So I will ask again
Does anyone know what the new tax on cigars will be?

[Totemic]

From my reading, it appears that March 2009 doesn't necessarily mean an automatic increase in taxes on tobacco products.

Rather, there was a bill passed in early 2007 which extended the current status of the SCHIP to March 2009. Which means by law, Congress couldn't attempt to pass a new bill expanding/extending the SCHIP coverage/funding beyond what's currently allowed UNTIL March 2009.

So what will most likely happen is once the new administration is in office, Congress will once again attempt to expand/extend the SCHIP coverage/funding by increasing taxation on tobacco products. Once that new bill goes through, that's when the potential increase in taxes will hit.

As it is, March 2009 shouldn't result in any increase in taxes, merely opens the door for a new bill that can raise taxes. If the new bill uses the same funding mechanism, it would be an increase of the existing federal excise taxes by 6000% for cigars.

So that means the current federal excise tax on "large cigars" (which is basically any cigars minus the cigarellos) is approximately $0.05 per cigar (it's capped at $48.75 per thousand cigars). This will be raised to $3 per cigar. This would effectively mean there will no longer be any such thing as "budget" smokes (basically tack on $3/cigar to all your cigars).

At least that's the way I understand it. I certainly can be wrong.

[BigBuddha76]

so...start writing your reps and urge them to NOT increase the tax on premium cigars when schip expires

[Ozz1113]

Originally Posted by aich75013

Wow. Lots of complaints, but no info.
I'd also like to know how much the proposed tax is.
I prefer to be informed before I complain.

I believe it goes by the size of the cigar. Larger sticks might see as much as a $1.2 - $3 increase.

A quote from CA:
The increase is considerable. A perusal of the 12 corona gordas rated in the June 2007 issue of Cigar Aficionado shows that each now carries a federal excise tax of five cents. Under the bill passed by the House, three of the cigars would fall under the $3 maximum tax, and the least expensive would have a federal excise tax of $1.19.