Obama’s Broken Tax Cut Promise

Posted February 5th, 2009 at 10.14am in Health Care.

It took President Barack Obama all of 15 days to break one of his most fundamental campaign promises. Even in these fast-paced times, that has got to be a record.

On Wednesday, February 4, President Obama proudly signed into law a huge increase in the federal tobacco excise tax. The tax is intended to fund part of the expansion of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In promoting and signing this bill, President Obama confirmed what he had long denied, that he is after all just another tax and spend liberal. But that’s not really news.

The expansion of the SCHIP program is wrongheaded for many reasons, but that’s not the issue here. President Bush fought and ultimately vetoed a very similar bill last year and so Obama’s election almost guaranteed the nation would take this unfortunate step toward socialized health care.

The issue is the tax increase. A 156% tax hike on tobacco. Tobacco taxes are paid almost exclusively by low- and middle-income individuals. Barack Obama campaigned on the promise that he would not increase taxes on individuals with incomes below $250,000. Virtually every dollar of the revenues to be collected under the tax hike will come from individuals with incomes below that threshold.

As smokers are about as popular as investment bankers and politicians, the fact that smokers will have to pay more for the privilege of destroying their own health hardly garners much sympathy. But the bigger issue is that Obama made a fundamental promise during his campaign, and he broke it in a new land speed record. With all the other mistakes his Administration is making piling up quickly, President Obama is not off to a promising start.

Author: J.D. Foster
Interact: Sphere
Share This

9 Comments

February 5, 2009 holly mock writes:

you lied!!!!!!! but you were a born again liar
you said no new taxes for middle class!! how do you define this ???? I was a born again liar!!!!
you have absolutely no integrerity, no loyalty, and no Abraham Lincoln qualities. You big fat Liar, Liar Liar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

February 6, 2009 Audrey Silk, Brooklyn, NY writes:

It breaks my heart to hear “the fact that smokers will have to pay more for the privilege of destroying their own health hardly garners much sympathy” out of Heritage. It’s this attitude that’s precisely the reason smokers were the target of this tax in the first place! So no, the bigger issue is not Obama’s broken campaign promise. If anything, they are of equal importance within their own argumentative sphere. However, this is a “chicken/egg” question that is easily answered. Were it not for the “unpopularity” for being a smoker — stoked by even such organizations as Heritage that stands for individual freedom which feels it must add that concessionary statement to appease the minds of the control freaks — this tax on smokers would not have been considered. The maligning came first, then the conscience-free theft of the hated group.

Founder, NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment

February 8, 2009 bev/usa writes:

Well, this is just one more step in treating cigarette smokers as second class citizens! I was hoping that President Obama would be the one to play fair with everyone. It appears I was wrong. I don’t see what is fair about saddling a “specific” group of citizens with the additional cost of providing health care for uninsured children. An additonal 4m no less. This additional cost for a “specific” group is unfair taxation. Seems to me this cost should be shared by “everyone”. If SCHIP is to be funded by taxation, it should be a tax on something that “everyone” buys,,,,,like toilet paper! I guess President Obama feels hurting a select group of citizens is better than putting a burden on all citizens! If he will agree to this type of unfair taxation,,,what else can we expect in the future. Will there be additional taxes on fast food? Since the American public can’t be trusted to not “pig out” at these places, therefore becoming obese which is hazardous to your health. Or how about alcohol,,once again hazardous to ones health as well as the public if one drinks and drives. Or how about soda pop? Or anything in supermarkets that could possibly raise cholesteral???? Do you get the idea here? We, as a American public, cannot be trusted to do what is right for ourselves so the American government has the right to think for us and tax us to death for not agreeing with everything they think is “for our own good”!

It is just another way for politicians to get their hands in our pockets! Who or what is next?!

March 14, 2009 Bill, Missouri writes:

This is not obama’s first broken promise nor his last. Folks he has no intentions of working for this nation, his cornies called the democratic party, the labor unions, and organizations such as acorn first and foremost wants to further their agenda. In all actuality obama wants his personal agenda and that is socialism and government control of peoples lives. The smoking tax hurts the very people he vowed to help, the poor who can’t afford to smoke to start with. People wake up, when you get a disease from smoking, lets see how much medical treatment you receive if socialised medicine becomes a reality.

July 10, 2009 Judy,North Carolina writes:

I made a promise to my husband that if Obama raised taxes on cigarettes, I would stop smoking. Well, the $.61 cents per pack did it. Plus now our governor is raising the tax in NC (a large tobacco farming state) to $.50 from $.35 so all together the increase is $.86 cents per pack. I am so happy that I quit smoking but not as happy as I feel when I get to say “stick it to the fed’s and the state”, I’m not paying you new tax.

But more to the point, Oregon raised taxes on cigarettes 5 or 6 years ago to fund the new Oregon Health Plan…well due to many smokers that quit, the cost of inflation, and other factors the Oregon health plan is in dire straits. My point being that if a specific population is targeted for increased taxation, the funding for the new plan will decrease and the entire population of taxpayers will end up covering the deficit.

On socialized medicine…WHO ARE THE 50 MILLION UNINSURED PEOPLE THAT OBAMA WANT’S TO COVER? I would really like to know where this number came from and who is included in the count…can someone tell us?

July 12, 2009 Heritage Foundation on Healthcare | High Plains Patriots writes:

[...] your payroll tax, not your personal gains tax, not any of your taxes.” Just 15 days into office, President Obama signed a bill expanding Medicaid eligibility that was paid for with a 156% tax hike … Since slightly more than half of today’s smokers (53%) earn less than $36,000 per year, Obama’s [...]

November 3, 2009 Morning Bell: We Still Hold These Truths | Conservative Principles Now writes:

[...] since being sworn into office, President Obama has raised taxes, weakened our defenses, and overseen arguably the largest expansion of government ever. As a result [...]

November 6, 2009 We Still Hold These Truths « 1dragon’s Blog writes:

[...] since being sworn into office, President Obama has raised taxes, weakened our defenses, and overseen arguably the largest expansion of government ever. As a result [...]

November 20, 2009 With Reid Bill, Obama Would Again Break “No Tax” Pledge | Fix Health Care Policy writes:

[...] with his February signing of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, which hiked tobacco taxes by 156% – effectively a tax on middle class American consumers. And that broken promise occurred only 15 [...]

The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

The Foundry