Democrats’ SCHIP Expansion Would Be Funded By A Tax On The Poor And Uneducated

Because that’s the demographic that tends to smoke more than any other.

WASHINGTON – 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.

So it’s ok to tax the poor…when they’re smoking. Because liberals don’t like smokers. Oh, and by the way, the rest of the funding for this legislation will come through cutting funding for a health care plan for poor senior citizens.
This does kind of put the Dems between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if the smokers keep smoking it’ll be the poor paying this tax. On the other hand, if the smokers stop smoking the SCHIP expansion won’t be fully funded.
Anyone thinking that this is an economically feasible way to fund an entitlement expansion is a fool. But then, the Democrats probably don’t care. If the funding falls short from smokers they’ll just make us all pay for SCHIP.