Crush Liberalism

Dems: Adults who quit smoking are killing kids

More economic ignorance by the left here. Yeah, I know…big surprise, huh? From FNC:

Congressional Democrats have chosen an unlikely source to pay for the bulk of their proposed $35 billion increase in children’s health coverage: people with relatively little money and education.

The program expansion passed by the House and Senate last week would be financed with a 156 percent increase in the federal cigarette tax, taking it to $1 per pack from the current 39 cents. Low-income people smoke more heavily than do wealthier people in the United States, making cigarette taxes a regressive form of revenue.

Democrats, who wrote the legislation and provided most of its votes, generally portray themselves as champions of the poor. They do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it to provide health insurance to millions of modest-income children.

All the better, they say, if higher cigarette taxes discourage smoking.

“I’m very happy that we’re paying for this,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in an interview Friday, noting that the plan would not add to the deficit. “The health of the children is extremely important,” he said. “In the long run, maybe it’ll stop people from smoking.”

What. An. Idiot.

Democrats “do not dispute that the tax plan would hit poor communities disproportionately, but they say it is worth it to provide health insurance to millions of modest-income children.” In other words, “screw the poor!” I thought they attributed that mindset solely to Republicans? Or is it OK to screw the poor if your motives for said screwing are more pure and noble? After all, poor-screwing can be virtuous, if your party affiliation begins with a “D”, right?

If you raise the price of cigarettes by a large tax increase, and you pledge to use the tax receipts to fund children’s health care, then you are counting on that tax money to be there. Some people will quit smoking because it has become too expensive for them, which Reid seems to applaud. However, won’t these folks who quit smoking be seen as callous individuals for not funding children’s health care? “We need you to slowly kill yourself with emphysema and lung cancer so the children can get health care, and you’re a heartless and selfish b#stard if you quit!”

I guess I should go buy a pack of Camels. It’s for the children.

October 1, 2007 - Posted by crushliberalism | economic ignorance, hypocrisy, smoking