Congress Looks for a Major Cigarette Tax Increase
Cross posted on Grizzly Groundswell
Cross posted on Political Grind
The Democrat congress is now attempting to pass a tax increase that will disproportionately affect the poor. I am talking about a significant increase on the federal tax on cigarettes.
House and Senate negotiators are trying to craft a veto-proof version of the bill. President Bush says he would veto it because it calls for a 61 cents-per-pack increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes, taking it to $1.
What smokers will be hurt the most by this tax? Poor smokers of course. The group liberal Democrats are supposedly trying to help. Do you think Sean Penn will be affected by this tax? I don’t think so. The average American smoker will also be hurt by this. I am so sick and tired of Democrats trying to say they represent the middle class only to raise our taxes. While the cigarette tax doesn’t affect me, as a non-smoker, except for an occasional cigar, once the doorway to taxes is open, more are sure to follow. Remember the bridge collapse and how liberals used that as an excuse to raise gas taxes? Who does that affect the most? Middle class and poor, that’s who. These people are frauds.
We need to stand up against this taxation now before it is too late. Currently the president has the votes so that his veto of this tax increase will not be over-ridden, but how long will that last. This is a sign of what’s to come if in the 2008 election we send a Democrat to the white-house with a larger majority than they already have.
A new Democrat president may start with a politically correct tax like a cigarette tax, but they won’t stop there. You can guarantee an increase in the gas tax next. Then what follows will be anyone’s guess. I’m sure alcohol will face taxation, hell we will be taxed for the air we breathe in order to stop global warming. Remember this when you go to the polls next year. Think about this before you pull that lever. For if you do not, remember you have been warned.
America's Watchtower 
I can’t figure out why people think that it is ok to target a select segment of the population and continually go after them. I know that smoking isn’t really politically correct, but to continually bash one group over and over again just seems wrong. And as you said, not only are they targeting one segment of the population, they are indirectly targeting the poorer Americans in the process. Of course, whenever you ask them about it, they claim that if they increase the prices through taxation that it will make people quit smoking (or not start), but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. About 75% of the people I work with smoke, and I asked them if the $1/pack increase here in Wisconsin would deter them, and not a single one of them said they would quit or even cut down on smoking. And this is rural population here – the people who can’t afford additional cost increases.
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Why I post on Red Sox Blog 11-27-07
Written by Peter Macdonald 465 Packersfalls rd Lee NH 03824 603-659-6217
You may not be NH residents. You are U.S. citizens and Veterans give their lives for citizens no matter what state they come from. NH has violated the law and Constitution to inflict pain and suffering on my family and me because I volunteer my time to help a Madbury NH family that the selectmen openly brag about destroying residents they do not think belong in their town. I had never met this family before they became so desperate they asked for my help because of a letter to the editor that I wrote. I do not even live in Madbury NH. I am 100% disabled. I was injured three times during my tour. Twice during combat related missions during the Vietnam Conflict. My PTSD was diagnosed only this past year because I never talked about my experiences until I wrote a book and they became public. I have relived my Convoy’s as an American Advisor and my first kill every day since my return in 74. I just never believe any one needed to know the dirty parts of a conflict. We as veterans are not fighting for you (people we do not know) we are fighting for our nation and the freedom it brings.
I do not ask people to put them selves in harms way. What Veteran’s give the U.S. can never be explained. What we did and the lives we lived over there is not possible for you that have never served to conceive. When newspapers and media feel that the words of a disabled veteran being tortured by the NH courts and government to silence his free speech is not worth informing the public we as a free nation no longer exist. I have violated no laws. What I ask people to do is talk about me to your elected officials, letters to your editor or blogs, I continue to help this Madbury family because they could be any of you. Freedom is worth fighting for and I can not let what so many Veterans that gave over the history of the U.S. be diminished by illegal government acts.
I use the RD blog because I used them as a crutch during my tour. If you Google my name and Lee NH you can read my letters in full. Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC Semper Fi
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