One interesting side of the SCHIP bill is its funding source (yeah, shrub plans to veto it, so this post is mostly irrelevant). The bill would pay for children’s health care by raising the tax on cigarettes by $.61 per pack, which makes me wonder if this would be a stable source of funding.
Allow me to throw out a personal perspective: I’m a smoker. While I’ve tried to quit multiple times, I’m still a nicotine addict. My state sees taxing cigarettes as a politically safe way to raise revenues, as a tax on “sin”. But here’s where it gets problematic: every time the tax goes up, I cut down my smoking. The tax increase is actually good for me, as I damage my health less for financial savings, but it doesn’t help the state’s revenue.
I don’t have a problem with raising the cigarette tax (heck, if they raise it enough, I might actually quit), but I question it as a reliable source of funds. The percentage of smokers in the population has been steadily dropping, and the remaining smokers are (like myself) smoking less. It’s an interesting conundrum.
(cross-posted at my place: http://www.pygalgia.blogspot.com/
Pygalgia)