I don’t even know what to say about the taxes they added to tobacco April 1st. It really reminds me of the Boston Tea Party. The idea of handing most of the responsibility of funding a portion of the new health plan for America to the poor is amazing to me.
If you haven’t noticed or don’t smoke, as of April 1st a new tax was imposed on tobacco that will pay for children’s health care. Last year the state of Montana imposed a tax on Tobacco that goes to covering cancer patients that can’t afford to pay for their treatment, which from a weird perspective make some sense, but taxing the poor for child health care? I don’t remember Obama ever mentioning that as part of the Change..
Understand me when I say the “poor” are being asked to pay this fee for their so called sins. It will cost the rich and middle class about 2 bucks a pack more in order to purchase their desires, while those who couldn’t afford to smoke packs of Marlboros or Camels, or chose not to smoke packs of cigarettes, but rather choose to roll their own are being charged by the pound for their vice.
In 2007 a can (150g) was $13.00. In Montana that jumped to $20 in 08, and as of April 1st 2009 now costs $40. This is pretty likely to put companies like American Spirit and Top out of business. I’m not going to pay it. It’s more likely that this kind of jump in price will actually open the doors for organized crime to make money stealing or growing contraband tobacco to sell on the black market.
I didn’t really mind that the price went up to pay for the outcome of the vice itself, but paying for a service that can in no way effect me seems a bit high handed. All those campaign promises of Change amount to nothing if it takes away parts of our lives in order to make someone else’s better. That’s the way it is now.
So, go ahead and disenfranchise us Obama. That’s what every President has been doing to us since Kennedy was shot. You, my friend are just another politician who handed us a bunch of promises and frankly I never bought it. I was raised in a blue collar family, my father was a Union Electrician. So many people believe in you and your really not what you painted yourself to be. Are you?
And maybe by the time your out of office we might be considering pulling out of Iraq, or finally closing Guantanamo Bay, but I seriously doubt it. I will say this though. You have finally taken the last bit of fun I had calling myself an American.
The bottom line is that I’m over it. I have never felt so disappointed with the place I live. My voice will never be heard and I don’t care anymore.
