The Clinton administration's health-care reform plan calls for $441 billion in new government spending over the next seven years to pay for government-run, guaranteed health care. The administration says that the only new taxes needed to take care of this amount is cigarette taxes. I feel like this is totally unfair.
If the health-care system is broken, then fix it, but don't blame smokers. If the governments, both state and federal, keep taxing smokers in this unfair manner, they are going to have to deal with black-marketing, smuggling and more violent organized crime.A new cigarette tax increase won't generate the money the Clinton administration needs. In fact, it will cause more unemployment. When smokers quit buying cigarettes, there'll be no more revenue from those projected taxes. And when cigarette sales fall, people will lose their jobs and won't be able to pay other taxes. Can't government use some common sense?
Evelyn deGroot
West Valley City