No new taxes includes those on cigarettes

To tax or not to tax, that is the questions — cigarettes, that is. I quit smoking when Mr. Obama put in place an additional 62 cents per pack tax. His excuse for the tax was to fund his S-CHIP socialized medical program for “children” up to 26 years of age. That was about 21 months ago. There is no way I will ever voluntarily contribute to a socialized medicine program.

So, collecting taxes for the past 21 months has paid for what? well, we have children here in Sandpoint who need help paying for their cancers, injuries, etc. with no help from Obama the socialist.

The big lie to help children was just like the recent State of the Union and his campaign promise speeches. That revenue source has gone into the Treasury to fund a wee bit of Obama’s horrendous deficit (yes, we all realize that Congress appropriated the money for the “Community Organizer.”) Mr. Reynolds writes that Idaho has very low tobacco taxes and attracts customers from other states (ergo raise taxes.) If our citizens can afford all the iPads, iPods, tablets, phones, etc.

Raising taxes won’t help stop smoking much. Furthermore, the huge win of the U.S. government against the tobacco industry in 1998 poured billions of dollars into state treasuries with almost nothing going to help with smoking cessation programs and problems. Financing related smoking problems was the mantra for the suit. Remember the November election? No more new taxes.

PETER HERAPER, M.D.

Sandpoint