Taxing the Poor Again to Fund Healthcare

There seems to be one commodity in this country that can taxed pretty much without repercussions and that's tobacco. Everybody thinks it's evil but nobody will vote to ban it outright, so instead of making what would truly be the healthiest choice by eliminating it, Congress feels free to pile tax upon tax on it to fund every manner of programs. Unfortunately, most of these taxes fall on poorer Americans who tend to smoke more than others.

The latest example is the doomed SCHIP children's health program which Congress passed, again funding an increase in the program through increased cigarette taxes (from Investors Business Daily):

As passed by the House, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, will create a major new middle-class entitlement even as we face looming national bankruptcy from our $50.5 trillion (yes, you read that number right) in planned spending under Social Security and Medicare.

Today, some 6.6 million kids are covered under SCHIP, at a cost of about $25 billion over five years. The new bill raises that to 9 million kids covered, at a cost of $60 billion. It pays for it with a 61-cent hike in the tobacco tax.

Sounds good, except that tax will hit the poor hardest. And those it helps are not poor. Under the new bill, families earning $83,000 a year could be eligible. If this bill were targeted at the poor, President Bush and the Republicans wouldn't oppose it. But it isn't. It's a new, radically expanded middle-class entitlement.

That, by the way, includes families like the Siravos of New Jersey, profiled recently by Bloomberg News. The Siravos earn $56,000 a year, own their own home and drive two used cars. They also pay $9,000 a year to send their only child to a private school.

Yes, things are a bit tight for the Siravos, as with many American families. But should the working poor subsidize health care for the Siravos and other middle-class families?

This expanded program will be vetoed by President Bush and the Dems will use that veto to beat Republicans over the head for the next year, because the realities of what this program does and who it benefits will never get reported. It will only be reported as "GOP Vetoes Children's Health Care".

If Congress wants to show some real concern for the healthcare of children and the poor, they'd ban tobacco products outright. That won't happen, however, as long as tobacco is the funding source for so many other programs.