We've made some contacts with our representation in Washington and they seem, based on party affiliation, to be quite focused on providing healthcare for "the children" in one way or another. We'd be hard-pressed to argue that underprivileged children shouldn't get some sort of quality healthcare program -- after all, a child that comes from a "poor" home, no matter what the circumstance, is powerless to cure whatever failing that has brought them to this situation on their own.

When receiving responses to our emails, there seems to be a global focus on cigarettes rather than the cigars that we actually contacted each party about. In other words, either they aren't reading our actual emails (likely) or they are lumping all tobacco together (very likely). Whatever the reason for the lack of concrete response on the cigar excise tax, it's clear from the wording of the legislation that cigars are being treated quite differently from cigarettes and thus, the responses from our representation should afford us direct response to the cigar-centric issues we are protesting.

Cigars, contrary to the President's stance, aren't safe. President Bush won't be in office much longer and his successor may be less likely to veto an increase in excise taxes on cigars. After all, they will say, you rich cigar smokers need to take on for the team and pony-up some money "for the children". 'Cause, nobody can be against "the children" now, can they?

Send and email to your Congressmen, Senators & the President >>

January, 2008 UPDATE:

Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) has added his support, along with 41 other Republican lawmakers, to the SCHIP bandwagon.

SCHIP is that proposed legislation that raises funds on the back of premium cigars and pays for healthcare for "poor" children.

As we've said before, we aren't against helping poor children, but we are clearly against raising the taxes on cigars to singlehandedly pay for it all.

We're not telling you how to vote -- that's not what Broadleaf is all about. We are, however, urging you to reflect and act on this turn of events through calls to Gilchrest's office and whatever else you feel led to do.

Contact Wayne...

 

Here's the response we got from The White House...

Thank you for writing about your concern regarding a new proposal to raise the federal tobacco tax.

President Bush strongly opposes the proposed increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco products.  Federal revenues are already above their historical average relative to the size of the economy, and the use of tax increases to fund spending increases is undesirable and inadvisable.  The Administration is also concerned about the impact the proposed tax increase would have on state budgets, which have become increasingly dependent on tobacco-related taxes.  Estimates suggest that a 61 cent per pack increase in the retail price of cigarettes would reduce state cigarette tax receipts by as much as 5 percent, or $750 million per year.  An increase in federal cigarette taxes is also among the most regressive revenue raising measures one could propose.  The Administration opposes any tax increase that consumes a larger percentage of the earnings of low-income families than those of middle- and upper-income families.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Here's the response we got from Senator Ben Cardin...

Thank you for contacting me regarding the proposed increase in federal excise taxes on tobacco products.

The Senate has just completed consideration of legislation that would reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Through CHIP, states who wish to participate are eligible for matching federal funds to either expand their Medicaid programs or create separate program to cover children from families with low incomes. Since the creation of this successful program in 1997, the number of uninsured children in America has fallen by more than one-third. Authorization of CHIP expires on September 30, 2007, and Congress must act before that date to ensure its continuation.

The Maryland program, known as MCHP, covers more than 100,000 children whose families have incomes under 300% of the federal poverty level. Unfortunately, several states, inc luding Maryland , are unable to cover all eligible children because of annual shortfalls in funding. To address these shortfalls, the Senate Finance Committee reported a bipartisan bill that provides $35 billion in funding over the next five years.

On July 19, 2007 the Senate Finance Committee approved the "Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2007", S. 1893, by a vote of 17 to 4. The Committee's leadership considered several sources of funding for the bill before choosing to increase the federal excise tax on cigarettes by $.61 per pack, and also increase in taxes on other tobacco products, including cigarette papers, tubes, smokeless tobacco and cigars. Legislation would reauthorize CHIP, investing an additional $35 billion over five years. In order to fund the program, the bill calls for an increase in tobacco tax by .61cents.

The concept of raising tobacco taxes to provide health coverage to American children enjoys considerable public support. According to recent studies, r aising the tobacco tax will have a significant impact on health by reducing the rate of lung cancer, strokes, heart attacks and birth defects. For example, if the tobacco tax is raised b y 61 cents; 232,900 smoking-affected births will be avoided over next five years and 909,000 total smokers will be saved from future smoking-caused deaths. Additionally, it is estimated that increasing tobacco taxes will cause a decline in adult and youth smoking, yielding $43.9 billion in long-term health care savings. Research has shown that increasing the tax on tobacco will reduce the prevalence of smoking overall and especially among adolescents.

I appreciate your taking the time to make me aware of your views on this matter and hope you will not hesitate to do so again about this or any other matter of importance to you.

Sincerely,

Benjamin L. Cardin

United States Senator

And, The Response From Senator Barbara Milkulski...

Thank you for contacting me about your concerns about raising federal cigarette taxes. I appreciate hearing from you about this amendment.

      I appreciate knowing of your opposition to taxing cigarettes. Unfortunately, we disagree on this particular issue.

I am very concerned about the health hazards of smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking is responsible for one out of every five American deaths. It also costs our society billions of dollars each year, adding to our skyrocketing health care costs. I have, for these reasons, supported a cigarette tax because research has shown that it decreases smoking.

     I believe that investment by the federal government in health care is extremely important. New breakthroughs in health care and disease treatment have been made because of the federal investment in medical research. Federal programs in preventative health care and education are also very important in making people healthier and decreasing insurance costs.

      I want you to know that I support cutting taxes whenever possible, but only when the tax cut is responsible and fair. I do not support cuts that are paid for with funds from the budget surplus until we safeguard important domestic programs for future generations. America needs to stay on the course of fiscal responsibility.

     On August 2, 2007, the proposal that would increase funding for public health programs by increasing the federal cigarette tax by $0.61 the Senate overwhelmingly passed this legislation by a vote of 68-31.

Again, thanks for contacting me. Please let me know if I can be of help to you in the future.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator


P.S. If I can be of further assistance in the future,
please visit my web site at http://mikulski.senate.gov
or call my Washington D.C. office at 202-224-4654

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