re: #457 Obdicut

The Obama Administration did impose a tax hike across the board in the form of the SCHIP tobacco tax hike. It raised the tobacco taxes nationally to purportedly fund the SCHIP program. The cigarette tax increased 62 cents—bringing the total tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.01; chewing tobacco tax increased from $0.195/lb. to $0.50/lb. and other tobacco taxes were hiked as well.

The goal was certainly laudable, but as I’ve pointed out repeatedly that with the increase in tobacco taxes, we’ve reached a point in many localities where revenues fall well short of projections because people have stopped smoking putting the very health programs funded by the tobacco taxes in jeopardy - increasing deficits in the process.