Smoking Out the Democrats

Originally posted at The Festering Swamp on July 19, 2007

In July 2007, Congressional Democrats proposed a massive cigar tax increase in order to fund one of their favorite boondoggles: the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Fortunately, this terrible idea was dropped and domestic cigar manufacturers were spared from having to leave the country or go out of business. – Mike LaRoche

I warned you all this would happen if the donkeys gained control of Congress. The Democrats, never content to leave well enough alone, are opening up yet another front in their War on Individual Liberty. How so? They're planning to introduce a 20,000% increase in cigar taxes (h/t Hot Air). You read that right – A 20,000% INCREASE IN CIGAR TAXES. The St. Petersburg Times reports:

As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children's health insurance [emphasis mine], the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar.

"I'm not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there's ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent," said [Eric] Newman, who runs the Tampa business [J.C. Newman Cigar Company] founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. "They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this."

Tampa-based Newman's is not the only local cigar company facing extinction should this proposal become law. Here in San Antonio the Finck Cigar Company, founded in 1893, would also face permanent ruin.

Why are cigars now being targeted? Partly, it has to do with the fact that cigarettes, which exponentially outsell cigars nationwide, have just about been taxed to death. There are also the nutrition Nazis and public-health Stalinists, always on a permanent campaign to outlaw tobacco, alcohol, meat, or anything that brings about the smallest level of personal pleasure, lest it be bad for you. Another reason, I suspect, is that cigars are seen by some Democrats as luxury items enjoyed exclusively by "the rich." As such, the rich could easily afford to pay a measly $10-per-cigar tax, right? Especially one that would benefit "the children."

In 1990, when the elder President Bush signed off on an ill-advised Democrat-proposed luxury tax on yachts and high-end cars, similar thinking prevailed. The result? The American yacht-building industry collapsed, with foreign manufacturers picking up the slack. Way to go, geniuses.

The Democrats love to portray themselves as the party of the working man and small business and the Republicans as the party of big multinational conglomerates. Yet, their proposed cigar tax increase would enrich foreign cigar manufacturers (including Cuban ones – what a coincidence) and wipe out what little remains of the American cigar-making industry – an industry largely consisting of mom-and-pop operations.

For being the supposed "party of the people," the donkeys have once again shown they care little of the livelihood and liberty of the American people. Time for another tea party.