South Carolina cig tax hike to pay for plan for insurance for low income workers

[The Straight Story]

South Carolina cig tax hike, insurance plan OK'd
By JIM DAVENPORT , 03.27.09, 10:19 AM EDT
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A plan to pay for a new health insurance program for low income workers with a 50-cent-a-pack cigarette tax increase has been sent to the South Carolina House floor for debate.

"It's a step toward reducing the number of uninsured in South Carolina. Long overdue," said John Ruoff, research director for the advocacy group South Carolina Fair Share.

Estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation show nearly 700,000 South Carolinians lacked health insurance in 2007.

The plan calls for taxing each cigarette at 2.5 cents because some manufacturers don't always package cigarettes 20 to a pack.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/27/ap6222499.html

Said it before with schip and will say again - raising taxes on one item that you don't want people to use to pay for the health care of others is stupid.

If we had a national health care plan all of this would be moot.

We don't pay for police/fire fighters this way - why health care??

[aquart]

1. Hundreds of hodgepodge fixes instead of one coherent plan.

Oh, goody. What's it like to have a working government?

[Hello_Kitty]

2. Seriously.

And where are all the people who were moaning about how wrong the bonus tax on the fuckwads who destroyed the global economy was on this? This is a regressive, punitive tax on a legal product. But it's always been okay to "punish" the poor with "sin" taxes. Yeah, have any of the geniuses who devise these taxes and tie them to funding certain programs thought about what would happen if everyone up and quit? Bye bye program I guess.

[SOS]

3. How about a 18 cent per bottle tax on beer?

That would raise $12 billion a year.

Schip = $12 billion a year.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. A small hike on capital gains taxes would pay for everything.

Rich fucks pay a measly 15% on most of their income while the working class gets nickeled and dimed to death with various taxes.

[SOS]

5. Agree 100%

Capital gains, stock transfer tax, corporate taxes are all at absurdly low levels (or non-existent).
Just pointing out that, since politicians want to pay for everything with "sin" taxes, alcohol could be modestly taxed to pay for Schip.

[terisan]

6. Can bank bailout money be redirected to buy out health insurance industry?

The fact that we have an entrenched or mature health insurance industry is the only obstacle to our having single payer.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. The problem will come when the # of smokers drop and the plan needs more revenue

In many ways Government is as addicted to tobacco as smokers are.

[C......N......C]

8. It is with pride and accountability that they scrutinize and justify

anything and everything that may remotely help any poor person. God forbid any overspending on any social program ( for the poor). No chance of wasting a dollar here. Got to save money to throw it around like there is no end for the really needy bankers and brokers.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Let me restate what I said...

The problem with sin or bad behavior taxes (like smoking) is that if they are successful in discouraging the behavior, the activity will reduce and the revenue from the taxes on them go down. With the big tobacco settlement, many states used the revenue for social programs and schools. When the # of cigs bought was reduced, those programs were under funded and other revenue had to be found. We would be much better off funding those kind of programs from general revenue vice sin taxes since it would provide stable long term funding.