You may remember the famous promise from Obama on the campaign trail not to raise any tax on any family making less than $250,000 a year. Well, that lasted about two weeks. Today Obama is signing a 61-cent-per-pack hike in the federal cigarette tax, buried in the so-called SCHIP bill.
A lot of poor and middle-income smokers who voted for Obama based on his tax promise may feel betrayed immediately. All the nonsmokers out there should also be concerned, because with that promise already breached, you could be next in line.
As a reminder, here's what Obama said on the trail:
"If you are a family making less than $250,000, my plan will not raise your taxes - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
Do cigarette tax increases not count as tax increases?
http://www.americansforprosperity.org/020409-obama-tax-promise-broken-already
A lot of poor and middle-income smokers who voted for Obama based on his tax promise may feel betrayed immediately. All the nonsmokers out there should also be concerned, because with that promise already breached, you could be next in line.
As a reminder, here's what Obama said on the trail:
"If you are a family making less than $250,000, my plan will not raise your taxes - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
Do cigarette tax increases not count as tax increases?
http://www.americansforprosperity.org/020409-obama-tax-promise-broken-already