CWNews

SD TV Station Allows SCHIP Editorial

We’re all supposed to hate the tobacco companies, right?  Smoking is evil.  We’re not supposed to do it.  And the government is going to use taxes and regulation to make sure we don’t do it.  Or, if we are going to do it, we’re at least paying heavy taxes to fund massive health care entitlements.


Well what about the impact of all that tax and regulation on American jobs?


Tampa will lose part of its cigar heritage in August when Hav-A-Tampa shuts its factory near Seffner and lays off about 495 employees, closing a factory that has been operating since 1902. ...


However, the company attributed much of its trouble to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a federal program that provides health insurance to low-income children. It is funded, in part, by a new federal tax on cigars and cigarettes. McKenzie couldn’t say how much sales of Hav-A-Tampa cigars had fallen off, but the numbers have dropped significantly, he said.


Previously, federal excise taxes on cigars were limited to no more than a nickel, said Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America trade group. The tax increase, which took effect April 1, raises the maximum tax on cigars to about 40 cents, Sharp said.


A 107 year-old company employing almost 500 people shut down because the liberals have decided that we shouldn’t smoke and have decided to tax and regulate tobacco use out of existence because they don’t have enough public support to get an actual ban.


And here you thought this was a free country.