Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Democrats voted for higher taxes on the poor by reelecting Obama

Everyone by 2015 will be paying more taxes under the President's plan--except of course, those who don't pay any taxes. Although even the poor get to pay more taxes for their cigarettes--the poor and less educated do not respond to price pressure so most will continue to smoke anyway.  Cigarette excise taxes are regressive--lower income smokers spend a disproportionate share of their income on cigarette taxes compared to smokers with greater incomes . In NY from 2003–2004 to 2010–2011, the percentage of income spent on cigarettes for smokers with annual incomes less than $30,000 more than doubled (11.6% to 23.6%). These taxes really hurt the poor--and the first tax Obama passed in 2009 was $1 on cigarettes.  He's not the first president to lie about taxes, but we've got more gullible voters these days. And they ARE educated.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0043838

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