if it was about health,LET’S OUTLAW SMOKING….fine…(but they won’t outlaw smoking simply beacuse they are interested in your money and nothing else)…

if criminal obama was interested in protecting the health of children he would OUTLAW tobacco…but he’s not gonna do that…because if he was we could say: let’s then outlaw everything that causes health problems …. first of all…every time non-smokers (and smokers) turn their cars on they release toxins in the air poisoning every living organism in our enviroment…so,what are we going to do about it….let;s outlaw gasoline and every single car that is using it…RIGHT NOW…take ‘em of the road…RIGHT NOW…all of the….for god’s sake there are hundreds of millions of cars poisoning us EVERY SINGLE DAY…and now…when tobacco and gasoline are outlawed…the next thing is FOOD…it causes way more health problems than tobacco and gasoline combined!!!…so,let’s outlaw food…and what is going to happen…all people will starve to death….AND THERE WILL BE NO MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS (because all of people died from starvation)…pronlem solved!!!!! FOREVER )

but it’s not about their concearn about your health…the only thing they are concearned about is STEALING MORE MONEY FROM THE POOR…a few years ago the price of cigarettes was doubled….and does anybody know where that money is going???have you ever heard of any smoker that needed some medical treatment getting any of that money..so he can pay his medical bills?????????Where is then that obscene amount of money going to…EVERY YEAR????????Does anybody know?It goes to the government and it spends it anywhere it wants (except healthcare)…all smokers are officially SLAVES to the government,working hard so they can take your money away…and criminal obama is your new master.

Tobacco Tax Turmoil (Part 1)
SCHIP vote leaves retailers reeling over likely sales declines, security issues

By Steve Holtz

WASHINGTON — Between now and April 1, retailer Fred Hoyt is going to be redoubling his customer-service training efforts, reviewing his marketing practices and underscoring the convenience of his stores. Oh, and one other thing: “We’re updating and replacing all of our security camera systems and we’re putting bars on all of our stores, something that I’ve sidestepped for the last 25 or 30 years,” he told CSP Daily News. Why? “Because the black market [on cigarettes] is going to be flourishing.”

From expected sales drops to security issues, the Senate’s approval last week of an expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a multilayered threat to the convenience-store and tobacco industries, according to Hoyt (pictured), president of Smoke N Go LLC, a chain of 18 smoke shop/convenience stores based in Abbeville, La.

“This is going to hurt small tobacco manufacturers, tobacco wholesalers and tobacco retailers,” Hoyt said.

There are striking differences in reactions to the Senate approving the expansion of SCHIP, however, illustrating how hard not two, but three sides were fighting for or against the bill.

On the one hand, fans of universal insurance coverage saw the bill as an important first step for President Barack Obama to make good on his campaign pledge to cover all Americans. On another, the bill is a huge step toward reducing tobacco use. Finally, the bill is increasing federal excise taxes on all tobacco products, effectively pricing them out of reach for many consumers. If you’re keeping score, that’s two major groups (health insurance advocates and the anti-tobacco lobby) in favor of the bill and only one-companies relying on income from tobacco sales-against.

Tom Briant, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO), however, doesn’t feel the issue is strictly a matter of being outnumbered.

“It’s simply that the attitude toward tobacco is not changing, and that attitude is held too far and wide by a majority in Congress,” Briant told CSP Daily News. “They simply see our products as a target for additional revenue.”

The Senate voted 66-32 Thursday in favor of the bill, as reported in a CSP Daily News Flash Friday. Proposed amendments to the bill that would have lessened the blow to retailers were not included in the approved version.

The new cigarette federal excise tax (FET) amounts to a 156% increase over the current tax of 39 cents per pack, bringing the total FET for a pack of cigarettes to $1. To see other tax-rate changes that are part of the approved Senate bill, click the “Download Now” button below.

The Senate vote followed on an earlier approval of a similar bill by the House. Now the two bills will go before a conference committee to hammer out final legislation, back to each branch for a final vote, and finally land on Obama’s desk for his expected signature as soon as this week.

“I don’t foresee that there will be any changes and that it will breeze through that [process],” said Hoyt, a former U.S. congressman. “The president will sign [the bill], breaking his first pledge to the people of America by taxing the people that make less than $250,000 a year.”

That’s been one of the rallying cries of NATO as it encouraged retailers to call their representatives and urge them to vote against the bill.

Meanwhile, NACS, which also opposed the bill, has been stressing the security factor, according to Chris Tampio, senior director of government affairs of the c-store association.

“The No. 1 thing we talk about when we discuss excise tax increases is the way that government-state, local and federal-they’re making tobacco a commodity, which is forcing people to the black and gray markets. People are buying on the Internet; they’re buying illegally,” Tampio told CSP Daily News. “[The industry] has done a great job to stop robberies over the past 10 years to protect cash and protect employees. Now people are robbing convenience stores, ignoring the cash and just taking cigarettes because they’ve created such a commodity. So we ask Congress, ‘Are you trying to make our stores unsafe again?’ ”

Tomorrow, CSP Daily News will delve into several aspects of the FET increase, including:

How much are cigarette sales expected to drop?
Are jobs at stake, and if so, how many?
Which tobacco category will be hit hardest? (Hint: roll-your-own)
What will the floor tax mean to retailers?
Is there an up side?

Funding for the expanded program will be covered through increased federal excise taxes on tobacco products, an issue that has raised alarms in many segments of the convenience-store and tobacco-sales industries.