Steady your hands as you light that cigarette and get ready for a 156 percent tax increase.

The Senate Finance Committee voted Thursday to impose a 61-cent increase in the 39-cent per pack federal cigarette tax. Four Republicans on the panel voted no; 17 senators including six Republicans voted for the tax increase.

If the full Senate and the House concur, it will result in more than a doubling of the tax on 47 million smokers. more…

The alleged purpose of this tax increase is to pay for children's health insurance, but as you know whenever these politicians have promised to raise taxes on cigarettes to pay for health issues, that never happens.  Instead they use the money for just about anything else they can think of.

Congress is also considering making it illegal to send tobacco products through the U.S. mail (they've already stopped shipments with UPS).  Their reasoning is because people buying through the mail generally are not paying the taxes on the products and thus, the government coffers are not being fed.  This tax increase will only give them more incentive to stop tobacco products being sent through the mail. 

As I have documented over and over again… it's NOT about children's health…. It's about MONEY, CONTROL, and JURISDICTION, and this is just another example of the corruption of our federal legislators.