Free Republic

SACRAMENTO – A strong majority of California voters favor the health care overhaul plan passed Monday by the Assembly and the $2-per-pack tobacco tax needed to fund the measure, according to the latest Field Poll. The poll shows that voters support the plan either “strongly” or “somewhat” by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio, 64 percent to 23 percent. Sixty-three percent of voters also support the proposed tobacco tax, while 33 percent oppose it. “Voters are pretty much in sync with the proposal going through the Legislature,” Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said. The poll is a boost for Assembly Speaker Fabian...

(CNSNews.com) - The increase in federal tobacco taxes that congressional Democrats are proposing to fund their new healthcare initiative is being praised by anti-smoking advocates as an effective way to discourage tobacco sales. "We are strongly in favor of the SCHIP proposal," Erika Sward, director of National Advocacy for the American Lung Association, told Cybercast News Service. "We see it as a win-win for children's health." "The first win is that the cigarette tax will be increased by 61 cents, which will have a significant impact on youth smoking rates," she said. "And the other win is that millions of...

AUGUSTA (Sep 20): Cigarette taxes in Maine — eyed as a source of new revenue for the state and federal government — have come in short by about $800,000 a month, on average, since January, adding to an expected budget hole legislators will have to fill when they return next year. From January through June, cigarette tax revenue was below budget by $5 million. Revenue was down another $850,000 in July — the start of the state’s fiscal year — and $600,000 in August. No one is quite sure what is happening with sales in Maine, but it appears more...

The Senate is now debating a bill to take low-income children (including illegals and children of illegals) off of state-run health insurance programs in order to stick them on some new federal health insurance program. Trent Lott just said the proposal before them is already $60 billion over "the baseline"..."and that's before it's even gone to committee." Sorry I couldn't fit a BOHICA alert in the title, but still thought some of you might want to know this is going on right now, live.

As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children's health insurance, the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar. "I'm not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there's ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent," said Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. "They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this." The Democrat controlled Congress has sought an extra $35-billion to $50-billion for the state children's health insurance program. The...

Members of Congress seeking to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover children from wealthier families are exploring new ways to pay for it. The Senate Finance Committee generally has agreed to reauthorize SCHIP for five years with a $35 billion expansion funded by an increase in the federal tobacco tax by 61 cents per pack.[1]While a tobacco tax is a politically popular funding source, it has several significant shortcomings: A tobacco tax disproportionately burdens low-income Americans, lacks long-term stability, and ultimately results in significant shifting of health care costs onto others. With the number of...

RAPID CITY -- A big problem is looming for state government, and it all stems from rapidly falling sales of tobacco products, according to state Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City. Effective Jan. 1, the state tax increased by $1 for a 20-stick pack of cigarettes and by $1.25 for a 25-cigarette pack. The tax on all other items, such as cigars and chewing tobacco, jumped

Lost in the national attention of the senatorial race and stem cell research amendment was amendment #3. It was a proposal to raise taxes by four cents a cigarette. Some of the revenues collected was to go to smoking cessation education and health care of the uninsured;none being allocated to general revenue. Blah blah blah, you know the drill. It was defeated by 51.5 to 48.5 percent. There was not much of a discussion of the amendment in my area in the media or local talk shows. Twenty-four percent of the adult population in Missouri smokes. I would venture to...

California is poised to enact the largest one-time cigarette tax hike ever -- adding $2.60 per pack -- on top of an already existing 87 cent excise tax, bringing the average price for a pack of cigarettes to $6.55, says Nanette Byrnes in BusinessWeek. The new measure is particularly worrisome for tobacco companies because of California's large share of the tobacco market; the state is home to 9 percent of all U.S. smokers. In addition, cigarette makers argue that the tax is unfair, and an irresponsible spending of the public's money: ** The measure does not require that all tax...

California voters will get a second chance to rule on whether parents should be notified when their daughters seek abortions. They'll also decide whether tobacco taxes should be raised to pay for a variety of anti-smoking and health care programs. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Tuesday that both initiatives had attracted enough voter signatures to make the November ballot. They join eight other proposals that previously made the ballot, although a bill moving through the Legislature would move one of those measures, a $9.95 billion high-speed rail bond, to the November 2008 ballot. The abortion measure would require parents...

Attorney General Supports Poochigian’s Request for Review of First 5 Commission’s Use of Taxpayer Funds Citing Conflict, Lockyer Refers Investigation to Sacramento County District Attorney “Attorney General Bill Lockyer has acknowledged that allegations that the First 5 Commission may have misused taxpayer funds in connection with campaign advertising for Proposition 82 warrant a prompt review. Although the Attorney General’s office has investigated and prosecuted other state entities and officers in the past, he has decided to refer this case. I believe that Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully will fully investigate the matter and, if warranted, prosecute any civil or...

Rob Reiner better watch his back. It now appears that an outside audit – at the least – will be done of the California Children and Families Commission because it used $23 million in taxpayer funds for TV ads touting “preschool for all” at the same time Reiner, a commission board member, was circulating petitions for his “preschool for all” initiative. And when investigators come to chat, the executive director of the commission just might not go along with the cover story that it was all one big “coincidence” that the TV ads ran at the same time as the...

Strickland Files “Public Documents” Request for Reiner Documents “The public has a right to know how their money is being spent” (Sacramento) – Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland has filed a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act for all documents surrounding the decision of a California commission to funnel millions in public funds into a television advertising campaign that may have been designed to boost an initiative petition being circulated by a member of the commission. The Sacramento Bee broke the story in December, with a more recent Los Angeles Times story highlighting the fact that more than $23...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well-deserved media and political heat - from politicians in both parties, for a change - over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money that is controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. Reiner temporarily stepped down from the chairmanship last week as political and media criticism mounted,...

Normally, I would wait until later to protest the proposed $2.60-per-pack tax on cigarettes being pushed for next fall by the American Cancer Society and other powerful health associations. But it’s such a rotten idea I don’t want to delay. Huge new taxes on specific groups of people create weird backlashes--in this case, probably skyrocketing sales of black-market cigarettes as smokers find creative ways to avoid this grab at their wallets. But, far worse, the proposed $2.1 billion tax, which will hit a shrinking population of mostly working-class and middle-class Californians, is horribly backward. It punishes smokers, yet it uses...

Foxx calls for runoff in 5th District. Runoff election is August 17.

BANNER ELK, NC (Talon News) -- Last month, Talon News reported on the candidacy of Vernon Robinson, a conservative black Republican running for the 5th Congressional District seat in North Carolina in 2004. In continuing coverage, Talon News recently spoke with candidate Virginia Foxx in an exclusive interview. In a positive, calm manner, Foxx says she realizes criticisms levied against her from other candidates vying for the congressional seat are all a part of the "dirty process" of running for political office. "This is one of the most painful things about politics," Foxx told Talon News. "However, I believe that...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state Senate approved a 75-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase Tuesday, ending weeks of negotiations that focused on how to spend the new revenue. The Senate voted 20-15 to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $1.25 to $2 beginning July 1. "It's a reasonable, fair compromise to help continue solving this short-term budget problem as we continue to do long-term economic investment," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming. The measure now returns to the House, which will consider the changes made by the Senate. Sikkema had called for spending nearly 19...

Goal of bargaining for temporary smoking tax increase should be elimination of unwise Single Business Tax http://www.detnews.com/2004/editorial/0406/09/a12-177915.htm

http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20177_20040608.htm

<p>Gov. Ernie Fletcher must think bigger if he wants an increase in the cigarette tax to be as good for the state's health as he expects it could be for its budget, health advocates warned yesterday.</p> <p>While smoking opponents said any tax increase is good news, they also said it would take at least a 75-cents-a-pack jump in the price of cigarettes to persuade enough smokers to quit to make a big difference.</p>

<p>LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm will call for a 75-cent per pack increase in the state's cigarette tax in her budget plan Thursday to help avert a $1.3-billion deficit in the next fiscal year.</p> <p>Because they are taxed, it is illegal to buy cigarettes in other states and bring them back to Michigan, including those purchased on the Internet. Since 1998, Michigan has required a state stamp on all cigarette packs.</p>

<p>February 7, 2004 -- The ringleader of an illegal cigarette scam in Queens was smoked out yesterday after he tried to bribe an NYPD sergeant with up to $20,000 to keep patrol officers away from his bootleg butt business, police said. Robert Booker, 35, was arrested Thursday night for selling untaxed cigarettes near the Long Island Rail Road station in Jamaica.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) - Four former surgeons general on Tuesday unveiled a plan to reduce smoking that included a $2-per-pack tax they predicted would prompt at least 5 million smokers to quit. They also called for a nationwide counseling and support line for smokers trying to quit, an idea that immediately was put into practice by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Thompson said more than $25 million would be dedicated for the toll-free, national "quitline" that will be established by year's end. States also would receive additional funding to either supplement or create their own quitline services. "The benefit...

WASHINGTON - In the largest crackdown of its kind, federal officials said Wednesday they had broken up a cigarette-smuggling operation in five states. Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said ten people have been arrested in Texas, New Mexico, New York, Florida and California. Portions of a 92-count indictment detailing the alleged scheme were unsealed in El Paso. Federal agents have spent more than three years investigating the smuggling operation, which they said sought to bring 5 million packs of bootleg cigarettes into the country. Authorities seized about 2.5 million packs, said to be worth about $20 million. The indictment...

Washington-AP -- The Feds are announcing a big cigarette bust. They say they've broken up a cigarette-smuggling operation covering a half-dozen states -- and it's the largest crackdown of its kind. Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement say arrests are being made in Texas, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Florida and California. A 92-count indictment naming 19 people has been unsealed in El Paso, Texas. Federal agents have spent more than three years investigating the smuggling ring, which they say sought to bring (m) millions of packs of bootleg cigarettes into the country. Authorities seized about two-and-a-half (m) million...

<p>New Yorkers can earn cash rewards for ratting out bodegas, groceries and individuals selling bootlegged cigarettes if a bill supported by Mayor Bloomberg wins approval.</p> <p>Under the bill, the city would give a "suitable" reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the detection of violations of the cigarette tax.</p>

Man Sentenced For Cigarette Smuggling Suspect Must Repay State More Than $2 Million POSTED: 10:57 PM EST January 8, 2004 UPDATED: 11:06 PM EST January 8, 2004 DETROIT -- A Dearborn man convicted of taking part in a multi-state cigarette-smuggling ring was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in prison without the possibility of parole, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said. Elias Mohamad Akhdar, 31, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He could have received up to 78 months in prison for the crime under federal sentencing guidelines. Akhdar...

By rolling his own cigarettes, Charles Fox of Washingtonville pays 80 cents every time he smokes the equivalent of a pack. Fox has been rolling his own for about a year and a half, ever since the state nearly tripled to $1 its tax on packs of cigarettes. "It was the cost," Fox explained as he walked up Main Street in Bloomsburg puffing a hand-rolled smoke and carrying a 53/4-oz. can of tobacco. That tin of tobacco, which included 200 rolling papers inside, gives Fox the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes — 10 packs of 20 cigarettes — for...

Schools may teach Perry new lesson Dave McNeely Thursday, December 11, 2003 Gov. Rick Perry has said he'll call a special session on school finance when legislators agree on a solution. But that might never happen — particularly if Perry continues his opposition to new taxes. The Republican governor said in his inaugural speech Jan. 21, "(W)e will continue to invest in the greatest economic development tool in the history of this state: the education of our children — all of our children." But five paragraphs earlier, Perry said, "When the economy is uncertain, it is precisely the wrong time...

<p>In New York. Among criminals - over cigarettes.</p> <p>Or, more to the point, among smugglers - over bootlegged cigarettes.</p> <p>That's right: Mayor Bloomberg and his friends in Albany have managed to spur a brand-new crime war - involving turf battles over bootlegged smokes.</p>

France tobacco sellers on march Thousands of tobacco sellers from across France have marched through Paris to protest against tax rises. The tobacconists say the increases are driving them out of business, as smokers find other sources - including the black market - for their supplies. Two tax rises have already been imposed, and another 20% rise is due in January. The government is trying to cut the toll on the nation's health caused by smoking. But the tobacco sellers say they are being driven out of business, that robberies are increasing and that more smokers are going abroad or...

SYRACUSE NY--Native American nations across New York are gearing up to protest the state's latest effort to collect millions of dollars in taxes on cigarettes and gasoline sold to non-natives on Indian territories. The Onondaga Nation will never collect a tax on cigarettes for New York, nation lawyer Joe Heath said, but it is willing to negotiate to resolve some of the state's concerns about the regulation of Native American businesses. If the state tries to force the Onondaga Nation to collect taxes on the cigarettes the nation sells, Onondaga Chief Virgil Thomas said, the Onondagas will build a toll...

<p>Federal prosecutors have arranged to sell millions of untaxed cigarettes taken during raids on Indian smoke shops in Washington and Idaho, a newspaper reports.</p> <p>The 1.6 million packs, totaling 32 million cigarettes, were confiscated in May. The U.S. attorney's office in Spokane earlier this month obtained permission to sell 1 million packs on the wholesale market, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday. The profits will go into a trust account until the forfeiture case is completed.</p>

Governor Releases State Police Report On Smoke-Shop Raid State Police Defend Actions An undercover state trooper and a representative from the state Division of Taxation purchase two cartons of cigarettes. No taxes are recorded and no permit is posted inside the store. State police file for warrant to search and seize inventory of tobacco shop. The warrant is granted at 9:45 p.m.July 14, 1 p.m.: About 20 state troopers arrive at the Narragansetts' tobacco shop to execute a warrant for search and seizure. Videotape shows state police troopers walking in a line toward the smoke shop. According to police,...

Tobacco tax narrowly defeated November 05, 2002By: Jason McLureState Capital Bureau JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri voters can exhale in relief after voters narrowly defeated a ballot issue that would have increased cigarette taxes by 55 cents a pack. The tax increase would have raised over $343 million in state revenues for Medicaid, prescription drugs for seniors, improved hospital emergency services, life sciences research, tobacco prevention, and early childhood programs. Some voters expressed a lack of faith that the increased tax would be used for the causes specified. "I have a lack of confidence that they would put the money...

Tobacco tax proponents outspending opposition by 50-to-1 By the Associated Press A coalition financed primarily by health-care interests and businesses has outspent opponents 50-to-1 during a nearly two-year effort that has culminated in a proposed tobacco tax increase. Citizens for a Healthy Missouri has spent more than $4.5 million in advance of the Nov. 5 election. The group is backing Proposition A, which would quadruple Missouri's cigarette tax and allot the majority of the money to health care. Two opposing groups reported spending a combined total of about $89,000. That does not include any money spent on a failed lawsuit...

The MSMA Council recently voted to support a major tobacco tax increase issue that will appear on Missouri election ballots in the November general election. The proposal, which needs voter approval, would increase the tax on cigarettes from 17¢ per pack (among the lowest in the nation), to 72¢, and would levy an additional 20% tax on the manufacturers invoice price for all other tobacco products such as cigars and smokeless tobacco. Not only will the tax discourage tobacco use - especially among youths - but it will generate an estimated $330 to $350 million in new revenues. The initiative...

<p>JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri could join a handful of other states that are depending on money they will get from the national tobacco settlement to solve the budget problems they are having now.</p> <p>Like Missouri, many states have budgets that are hundreds of millions of dollars in the red. North Dakota, Alabama, Alaska and also New York City have used their share of the tobacco settlement to fund bonds. Money raised from the sale of these bonds is being used to plug holes in their budgets.</p>