If approved by the Senate, House Bill 3584 would increase the state tax on cigarettes from 7 cents to 57 cents per pack. The bill has already passed the House and would establish a new health care program that would extend taxpayer-subsidized health insurance to families earning up to 200 percent of federal poverty level (FPL). That equates to $44,100 for a family of four in a state with a median household income of $43,508 (as of 2007). In addition, the legislation would extend state-subsidized insurance to high-risk insurance pool participants who earn up to 400 percent of FPL – $88,200 for a family of four. Ironically, only $5 million of the $147 million in revenue expected from the bill would go to smoking prevention and cessation efforts.

Exactly who is going to lose their job if people quit smoking?

Is it the people who are operating the cancer units?

I agree we should stop spending but no politician one wants to do that.

Stop spending or stop killing innocent kids who are starting to smoke?

I can answer that one very easily.

1. Bad idea to raise taxes to change behavior. Period. Make cigarettes illegal before you do that. Seriously. Where does it stop?
2. Giving government more revenue only creates more programs that have to be funded EVEN when that revenue source dries up. We’ll all pay for this one soon enough.
3. Raising taxes has a broad economic impact that goes beyond smokers. SC Policy Council estimates around 4,000 jobs lost. Dispute the numbers all you want (but if you are going to, then economic to do it, not rhetoric), but there is no question small retail businesses will suffer at a time when too many people are losing their jobs.
4. We have no idea where most of the money we already spend goes, but what we can see looks like a lot of waste. Why in the world would we give them any more revenue at at time like this, especially when they now say they won’t even tell us where it will go?

We need to stop raising revenue and start cutting spending. That simple. The economy just can’t take another increase that hurts any taxpayers, even smokers.

In the short run, increasing the tax is the best way to curb use .

I don’t care if you are an R or a D or an I or a Q – raise the dam tax and help keep people from getting sick and dying.

What to do with our money collected on the higher tax?

Use our money collected to reduce our very high state income tax rates.
Come on gang, this issue is too dam simple not to fix.