health news for children
Cigarette tax to fund health care? Really?
The Senate Finance Committee voted 17-4 for a five-year, $35 billion increase to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which now enables health coverage for 6.6 million children. An additional, estimated 3.2 million uninsured people could be covered under the plan. It would be paid for by raising the 39-cent federal tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1. See the article in USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-19-health-insurance_n.htm
Today USA Today has a story that says “As Congress weighs the biggest federal cigarette tax hike in history, a USA TODAY analysis finds that higher state taxes on smokers have produced sharp declines in consumption.” See the story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-08-09-1Alede_N.htm?csp=34
Several people on Yahoo have been bashing Bush about a threatened veto on this. If the tax goes up and the number of smokers goes down, where in the !@$# is the money going to come from for this program?
You make a good point. If they keep raising taxes like that, nobody’s going to be able to afford to smoke, and there goes all that funding for the plan.
I think they’re going to drive cigarettes into the black market. People are going to end up growing and selling tobacco illegally, selling cigarettes cheaper than what the tobacco companies do, and then people will still be smoking, but the government isn’t going to reap a penny of tax from the sells. If anything, it’ll cause the government to spend more money trying to track down and stop the illegal tobacco sellers.
Empowered Health News | Active Parents Raise Active Children
Powered By WP Footer