With new president comes new cigar tax

[mc2712]

Any amount of tax is not good, I don't care if $3 or $10 it is too much. When are these people going to learn the only way to raise REVENUE for governments is to LOWER TAXES, not raise them. The object is to get people to spend money, everytime taxes are rasied people STOP spending, that means no new REVENUE! Also I can take care of my kids myself!

[cboor001]

Hey guys, to Baba's question/comment about the reservation. Yes, the get around the high taxes. Living in N. Tx most of my life, it is very common for us Tx Yankees to run to the OK border for beer and smokes. If it works, it works. 3/2 beer is the same, just takes more to get the job done.azzapp:

[mikejh-cl]

thats good news about the reservation shops, we have a few good ones here in WA state, they may be getting more of my business

[TOJE]

As a rep in the biz this is not a good thing.......fight this as hard as you can.

Many of us will be looking for new jobs if this law is passed. Just my 2 cents.

[shrtcrt-cl]

This will kill the industry. I have to think a complete idiot thought of this idea..

1) Ban people from smoking
2) Raise taxes on the purchase of smoking to fun health care

So that says they do not care about this health care. How about the people at the insurance companies chip in for this program. They make enough money from NOT paying for health care that they could donate a very small portion from each premium to fund this.

What will I do with my free time if i cannot enjoy a fine cigar! BAH!

[Humidor Minister]

What can we do as cigar smokers to fight this? Is there someone we can call or e-mail to voice our opinions and ideas? Cigar smoking is NOT cigarette smoking. We don't need breaks in the middle of the work day and we didn't do it in resturants. For the most part we keep to ourselves and our fellow cigar smokers. If they pass this BS, I'm smoking anywhere I can and when somebody whines I'll just say "I have to pay a 3 dollar tax to smoke this cigar so I'll smoke it where ever the hell I wan to smoke it" If that tax dollar goes to the sidewalk. I'm paying for it so I'm using it how I see fit.azzapp:

[drac-cl]

Originally Posted by cboor001

Hey guys, to Baba's question/comment about the reservation. Yes, the get around the high taxes. Living in N. Tx most of my life, it is very common for us Tx Yankees to run to the OK border for beer and smokes. If it works, it works. 3/2 beer is the same, just takes more to get the job done.azzapp:

The reservation will remain lower on the price due to lack of any state tobacco tax or sales tax. In referrnce to this proposed tax it will hit the manufacturer directly upon entry of product into this country. That means noone is exempt although the rest of us will see higher price increases due to tax on tax on tax. But yes the reservation prices will also go up. Not to mention a grave violation of C.A.F.T.A and thus the destruction of a middle class that exists in Nicaragua and Honduras due to the tobacco industry.

[Kidknee]

bill passed the other day.. .40 to $1 per cigar. $1 per pack of cigarettes. snuff was like a dollar a pound. pipe tobacco is moving from around a $1.09 to $2.89 or so per pound. Roll your own is being taxed around $25 dollars a pound(not a typo). Cigarillos are gonna go up a quarter a year over the next 4, and you pot heads are gonna have to pay an outrageous amount on your blunt wraps, but I forgot what that amount was. I guess it could be worse, but it still sucks.

[KazzTheMurse]

the notice we got in the shop said a flat tax of 50 cents per stick?

[leafandale]

Originally Posted by KazzTheMurse

the notice we got in the shop said a flat tax of 50 cents per stick?

No. It's a flat .40 cent per stick tax on cigars. That is the version that the House finance committee passed. The senate's version differs just slightly to make the rate .402 cents per cigar. The House and Senates versions differ only slightly, so there should not be any trouble with them coming together to get a compromise that Obama will sign. The only question is when. I thought I saw another thread on the board somewhere with all the SCHIP details in it. If you can't find the details, I've got them on my blog (it's in the signature).

The tax on cigarettes does not go up $1.00 a pack, it goes up TO $1.00 a pack. That's a .61 cent per pack increase. The current rate is .39. If you roll your own cigarettes, you are SOL. The price you pay will go up about 2 1/2 times what you pay now. So if you pay $20 a pound, you can expect to pay about $46-$48 a pound after Obama gets done with you.

[mc2712]

What Mike has written is completely true. I have either read or heard this same info. Here is another angle on the SCHIP crap there is a channel on my Uverse package called ABCnow and they have been talking how kids are not insured and how this bill is going to help the children. The anchor and another woman talk about how this bill helps working poor families. The woman says the average family of 3 making $32,000 a year will be covered, when this bill passes. The anchor then says this bill is needed to help the working poor.
Ok this is what I want you guys to notice and that is these two people start off by talking about helping children, then jump to the entire family. And that is the goal Nationalized Health Care, SCHIP is just a gateway drug to getting every person in this country hooked to Nationalized Health Care.
Also this bill will pass because the Republicans are to chicken S*#t to fight. My 2 cents!

[Hot Stuff x]

Originally Posted by mc2712

Also this bill will pass because the Republicans are to chicken S*#t to fight. My 2 cents!

The Republicans are the minority party (and have been for a couple of years), but before they had the presidential veto working for them. Now they don't have that.

Before, the Republican President could balance the Democrat congress, but that is no longer the case. The Republicans have little power to stop anything the Democrats want to do.

[mc2712]

Originally Posted by Hot Stuff x

The Republicans are the minority party (and have been for a couple of years), but before they had the presidential veto working for them. Now they don't have that.

Before, the Republican President could balance the Democrat congress, but that is no longer the case. The Republicans have little power to stop anything the Democrats want to do.

The Republicans can stick together and vote together, and they good go out and talk to their constituents to help them fight this bill or any other bill that will take U.S. towards socialism. That is how they could fight, but they have not done that for some time, not since the 80's.

[MsprinM]

As someone who has lived below the poverty line I have to say this. There is already national free health care for the poor. Its called Medicaid/Medicare and each and every one of us are already taxed for it. Schip has nothing to do with helping the poor. Our politicians never do anything in one big jump. And that goes for both republicans and democrats. They take baby steps in everything they do in order to not spook the heard. this is just another example of them manipulating the sheep who aren't paying attention. The know that smokers wont generate enough in taxes to pay for this. When it starts to crumble it will become a "crisis" so that they can then slap on new taxes for each and every working person. And as usual the heard will nod their heads and say OK since its an emergency.

[mc2712]

This is an update about the SCHIP Bill as of 1/28/2009

The Senate rejected the Republican proposal by a resounding 65-32 vote. Democratic lawmakers say the GOP's legislation didn't go far enough, covering only about 2 million uninsured children, or roughly half of the number that the Democrats' bill would cover.

Democrats are trying to more than double spending for the program, and President Barack Obama has urged Congress to quickly send him a children's health bill that he can sign into law. The House has already passed a bill comparable to the one before the Senate.

Republicans argued that their proposal was more focused on helping low-income families and did not rely on tax increases to pay for the additional health spending. The GOP's amendment also would not have allowed federal funding to cover children of newly arrived legal immigrants, as the Democratic bill allows.

The Democratic-led effort relies on higher taxes on tobacco to pay for covering more children.

The Republicans' amendment, instead relied primarily on lowering certain Medicaid payments to the states.

It looks to me that it is Dems vs. Repubs. Thats too bad for us!!