SCHIP Passes, Cigar Retailers Die
So our new president has violated another of his campaign promises. He promised to wait five days before signing any new legislation, so that We the People can review and comment. Another layer of the lies of "The One" has been revealed. Almost without notice, the cigar industry has been decimated.Every cigar retailer must now pay tax on each cigar in inventory. Many smaller shops will be forced to close. This is without hope, but it is a significant change. The economy may be in trouble, but nowhere is it in more trouble than for families that depend on cigar sales as part of their income. The tax provision in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill will have devastating, unintended consequences.
No family-owned cigar-related business will be able to sell enough at the increased price to remain open, and their employees will become unemployed. The brutal tax burdens from SCHIP will crush the small cigar businesses and the roll-your-own cigarette businesses. Thousands of American jobs in the myriad of support businesses such as tobacco growing, tobacco processing, package manufacturing, transportation and sales operations will be lost. Bush vetoed the last iteration of this travesty, but Obama has no such concerns for the family owned businesses that will be affected by this new tax.
Hope and change, here we come!