Cigarette Tax For Childrens Health Care Rejected By Voters
Supporters of the massive expansion of SCHIP have taken a loss yesterday as Oregon voters rejected a cigarette tax hike for childrens health care. The amendment to the State Constitution would have authorized a dramatic increas in taxes on cigarettes to fund universal health care for children.
Oregon’s working poor will have to wait a while longer to get health-care coverage for their children.
Voters easily defeated Measure 50, a plan to raise tobacco taxes to provide universal health care for children after a record-shattering negative ad campaign financed by cigarette companies.
The measure went down by a wide margin, both statewide and in Marion and Polk counties.
Dubbed the Healthy Kids Program, Measure 50 was a top priority of Gov. Ted Kulongoski and fellow Democrats in the Oregon Legislature. Democrats placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot when they couldn’t get enough Republican votes to pass it outright or submit it to voters as a simple statute.
Measure 50 would have raised cigarette taxes 84.5 cents per pack and increased taxes on cigars and other tobacco products. Proceeds would have provided universal health care to Oregon children and youth, and doubled spending on campaigns to educate people about smoking and help people quit. Money also could have enabled more low-income adults to join the Oregon Health Plan.
Ultimately voters rejected the idea of a consumption tax funding their childrens health care, realizing that as consumption of cigarettes went down (as is the governments goal), so would revenue. Once this revenue stream dried up, which seems to be inevitable, the State of Oregon would then need to pass off the costs to its citizens in the form of an increased income tax.
Michelle Malkin reminds us of a video which was spread around when Democrats attempted to pass a similar bill in Congress.
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I couldn’t understand some parts of this article , but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
Daniel, this article was about voters rejecting a health care amendment in Oregon which was similar to the SCHIP bill vetoed by President Bush. If you do a quick search here for SCHIP, you will have a better idea of what I was talking about.
Thanks for your interest.
“Liberal Oregon” DID NOT “reject(ed) the idea of a consumption tax funding their childrens health care” so much as the election being bought and paid for by massive, record setting spending by the tobacco industry to defeat the measure. That spending - well over $20 per “no” vote - combined with the timidity of the Oregon Legislature who chose to put this vote to the electorate as a constitutional amendment in order to make it easier to put on the ballot, was the real underlying cause of this defeat. It is simply a victory for unrestrained corporate spending on ballot measure elections that increasingly plagues this state.
If self styled “conservatives” find some illusory comfort in this anomalous situation that’s fine with me. I suppose the sort that would draw such conclusions are becoming fairly familiar with living in an alternative reality. I’ve heard you “make you own,” after all.
OK so Oregon was then “conned” into voting against the measure by the big bad tobacco companies, even though this bill was in their own best interest?
I do not care how much money in advertising a company spends, a person will always vote what they feel is their best interest. The only exception to the advertising rule, is those who are gullable, and/or do not know any better. Would that have been a better way to describe liberals in Oregon?
Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!