Well well well....
It looks like compassionate Conservatism is rearing its head once again.
Coming on the heels of Michael Moore's Sicko, Bush & Co. gives the middle finger to America's children- pledging to veto a new child healthcare Bill. They supposedly believe in "Family Values", but apparently they don't value the idea of healthy families. Interesting irony indeed.
Bush & Co. does not support an increase of a few billion dollars per year over the next few years (to total $35 billion). The increase would expand the existing Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which is scheduled to expire at the end of September. The proposed increase would provide insurance for an additional 4 million uninsured children. But Bush & Co. advisors are encouraging George W. to veto the Bill....it is just not worth the investment. Yet the U.S. wastes $10 billion EVERY MONTH on the unneccesary war in Iraq. (1) Even Republican members of Congress are challenging Bush & Co. on this Bill and are not happy about the planned veto.
Meet Susie Flynn, a 10 year old running for President as a way to put pressure on the 2008 Presidential candidates to make healthcare for children a priority. The above Bill is the legislation that she was promoting. This just illustrates how screwed up America's priorities are.
Monday, July 16, 2007
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4 comments:
Nice to blame the President for calling Democrats and others for this insane bill. People love to wave the flag for childrens health, but sacrifice people through taxation. The cigar tax planted in this bill would raise the cap for a premium cigar from $.05 to $10 per cigar. How do you justify this?
Stick a $10 tax on the candybars they eat and leave me alone.
The tax opponents have been blowing this out of proportion in order to gain sympathy. (1)
God forbid that a fat cat like Rush Limbaugh would have to pay a little more for his premium cigar.
The fact is, this is not a tax primarily on cigars.... but a tax on Tobacco overall. 95% of Tobacco taxes are collected from Cigarette sales, not Cigar sales.
The tax for cigarettes would go from .39 to $1.00, an increase of .61 cents. And the $10.00 tax cap on Cigars is just that... it is a cap... the maximum amount that could be taxed. This maximum amount WOULD NOT be charged for every purchase, as the tax opponents are suggesting. In fact, this amount would apply only to a small fraction of even the 5% of Tobacco sold as Cigars. It would only apply to the most expensive Cigars. So we are talking about a very small slice of the overall Tobacco sales. Small cigars would share the same tax rate as Cigarettes.... only large Cigars would be taxed more. And even then, the actual tax rate would be 53% of the sale price, not the $10.00 per cigar. Rarely would the $10.00 cap be reached. The Tobacco industry is trying to scare people to gain support. The following link from a pro-Cigar website actually breaks down the figures pretty nicely. See Here
Lastly, it appears as though you are on the wrong side of this issue. The White House is also on the wrong side of this issue... (which is no surprise considering that Bush & Co. are on the wrong side of just about every major issue facing the country right now). The American Medical Association strongly supports this legislation. Both Parties of Congress are in favor (rare bi-partisan legislation at a time when the 2 Parties can barely stand to sit in the same room together for 5 minutes). And last but not least...the American People support it as well (overwhelmingly), and they are even willing to support a higher rate of tax than what is actually being proposed.
See here.
And by the way... I can agree with you on one thing. We could definitely tax the candy bars and other junk that these kids are eating.
That is definitely something that could be addressed, considering how obesity and diabetes impacts children in this Country, as well as the health system.
53% tax on cigars is extreme. Especially when cigars represent such a small amount of tobacco sold. Why don't they tax something that people use, like gasoline, so that you can really generate the necessary funds needed to provide adequate healthcare for everyone. I have always been anti-republican because I don't like being told what I can or cannot do in the privacy of my own home, but I think the dems are really losing me. I think that children should have the healthcare they need, but this sounds like something thrown into the bill to ensure that it fails or is vetoed by the president.
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