I meant to post about this when it happened a couple of weeks ago. Today I was reminded about it by a catalog from JR Cigars, announcing the 54% tax increase on cigars.

Obama promised none of his tax increases would hit the poor or middle class. He lied. Surprise surprise.

SCHIP was originally intended to provide health insurance for poor kids. The Democrats tried to expand it dramatically under Bush, but he vetoed it. But under our new deadly combination of a socialist president and a socialist congress, it slithered through, virtually ignored by the mass media.

Not content with redefining anyone making more than $250k as rich, he’s now defined people making up to $63k as poor, poor enough to be covered by SCHIP. States will be able to raise this to $83K if they like. The cost of SCHIP is to be covered entirely by taxes on smokers.
Here are the tax increases:

• Cigars from 20.719% to 52.75% per 1000 over 3 lbs with a 40.26 cents per cigar cap (+155%)
• Little cigars from 4.0 cents to $1.00 per pack (+2,400%);
• Cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.01 per pack (+159%)
• Snuff from 58.5 cents to $1.51 per pound (+158%)
• Chewing tobacco from 19.5 cents to 50.33 cents per pound (+158%)
• Pipe tobacco from $1.0969 to $2.8126 per pound (+156%)

As horrible as these taxes are, the worst was the attack on the poorest of the poor – the people who are trying to save money by rolling their own.

• Cigarette papers from 1.22 cents to 3.15 cents per 50 (+158%)
• Cigarette tubes from 2.44 cents to 6.30 cents per 50 (+158%)
• Roll-your-own tobacco from $1.09 to $24.78 per pound! (+2159%!)

I predicted this back in 2000:

Technically, rolling your own isn’t a tea party because the supplies are available retail and are not heavily taxed. But if enough smokers start doing this you can be assured the politicians will implement punitive taxes on the bulk tobacco, the kits, the tubes, the box it comes in, the cellophane used to wrap the box and the ink used to print the instructions. Be ready to start ordering from Indian reservations and overseas suppliers when it happens.

Smoking is more prevalent among people with lower incomes, so they’ll the hardest hit. A smoker making $20k a year now has to pay for the larvae of someone making three times as much.

But Obama isn’t going to raise taxes on the poor, no sir.

This will lead to an even more massive move toward “black market” tobacco, and it should.

The American Revolution was started over taxes on tea.  The colonists were weren’t just pissed about the amount of the tax, (which was far, far, far lower than today’s tobacco taxes) but on being taxed without representation. Tobacco users are now paying taxes of hundreds of percent, and in some cases, thousands of percent. When was the last time you heard anyone, in any governmental body, propose anything that could be construed as representing smokers? When smokers flock to Indian reservations and overseas vendors to avoid draconian taxes, they shouldn’t be regarded as criminals. They should be regarded the same way we regard the perpetrators of the Boston Tea Party: as patriots refusing to kowtow to government oppression.

Big Brother, of course, is pissed at these patriotic Americans who refuse to screwed. In my state, NY, Governor Patterson is trying to force Indian reservations to pay federal taxes. The reservations are refusing, of course. The last time a governor tried this the Senecas started a tire fire on the Thruway, a major thoroughfare in NYS that runs through their reservation. I saluted them, and if they’re going to do it again I have a few spare tires in my garage I’ll be happy to donate.

The next time someone praises the Lord Messiah Obama about his concern for the poor, ask them about his 2,400% tax increase. They’re probably not even aware of it.