Politicians who represent themselves as the champions of the less fortunate are planning to place the financial burden of SCHIP expansion squarely on the backs of the poor. As the AP puts it:
Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children’s health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.
In other words, the poor will be hardest hit by the proposed tax on tobacco products:
Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.
And, as I point out here, a recent study shows that low-income people continue to buy tobacco products in the same quantities even when taxes cause the price to go up. Not that the Democrats care:
They do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it …
With friends like these, the poor don’t need enemies.
Comments 2
‘And, as I point out here, a recent study shows that low-income people continue to buy tobacco products in the same quantities even when taxes cause the price to go up.’
As you well know this study is heavily disputed. For a start, it looks at number of smokers not number of cigarettes smoked.
Posted 01 Oct 2007 at 6:37 am ¶It’s “heavily disputed” only by the frauds who make the preposterous claim that SCHIP can be paid for with a cig tax.
Posted 01 Oct 2007 at 8:03 am ¶Post a Comment