Yes, really.
The federal tax was increased from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack of 20 cigarettes in April, 2009. http://www.ttb.gov/m...hip-summary.shtml Other taxes on tobacco were increased as well. It is intended to pay for an expansion of SCHIP. Imagine that - increasing a benefit and finding a way to pay for it under PAYGO. Whodoathunkit.
Smoke 2 packs a day, pay $226.30 more to the federal government a year. It's a huge burden. :-/
Don't like it? Don't buy tobacco. Problem solved.
It's not a tax on people who make less than $250k, it's a tax on smokers. This isn't complicated.
The excise tax on indoor tanning services is 10%. Around here, one can get "high level" monthly packages for $100 a month. That additional tax would be $120 a year. Another huge burden. :-/ It doesn't apply to medically necessary treatments at licensed medical offices - http://www.irs.gov/b...id=224600,00.html
Don't like it? Go to a doctor. Or go outside. Problem solved.
In contrast, Obama has cut taxes more than that - http://www.politifac...mulus-made-it-so/ . So even if someone is a heavy smoker and a heavy tanner, they would have come out ahead - had their net taxes cut. Or, IOW, he would have cut taxes on people making less than $200k/$250k.
But let's step back and see what Obama actually said that gets reduced to the "I won't raise any taxes" sound bite: http://www.barackoba...rack_obam_112.php
[...]
To pay for these tax cuts, I'll stand up to special interest carve-outs, close corporate loopholes and offshore tax havens, and ask the wealthiest Americans to give back a portion of the Bush tax cuts. It's time for folks like me who make over $250,000 to pay our fair share to keep the American promise alive for our children and grandchildren.
When you're running for four more years of George Bush's policies, it's hard to run on your plans. So you make stuff up. You twist facts, and you don't tell the truth - that's what John McCain has done when it comes to my tax plan. So let's be clear about what we are proposing.
My plan - all together - is a net tax cut. My plan will cut taxes to a smaller share of the economy than they were under President Reagan. Under my plan, income taxes for typical American families will be the lowest that they've been in more than a half century. Everyone in America - everyone - will pay lower taxes than they would under the rates Bill Clinton had in the 1990s. And under my plan, middle class families will get three times as much relief as Senator McCain is offering. In fact, his plan gives absolutely nothing to over 100 million American households.
And I can make a firm pledge: under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase - not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. My opponent can't make that pledge, and here's why: for the first time in American history, he wants to tax your health benefits Apparently, Senator McCain doesn't think it's enough that your health premiums have doubled, he thinks you should have to pay taxes on them too. That's a $3.6 trillion tax increase on middle class families. That will eventually leave tens of millions of you paying higher taxes. That's his idea of change.
Now I do want to be fair. Senator McCain is offering some tax cuts. He'd spend nearly $2 trillion over a decade in tax breaks for corporations. He would continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. His plan gives more than a half million dollars in tax cuts for households making over $2.8 million. That's right - $2.8 million. Now I know that Senator McCain has said that only those making over $5 million a year are rich, so maybe he thinks that folks making $2.8 million are middle class.
[...]
The big picture says he's right. He obviously wasn't talking about excise taxes. Excise taxes are in the noise. But the big picture isn't interesting to some people here. And some people around here seem to think that Obama is a dictator who writes legislation, while most of us who were awake in American History know that the House writes the tax rules... :-/
Your insistence in constructing a strawman of me as some brainwashed Obamabot ideologue is rather tiresome. But whatever.
Cheers,
Scott.