Mike the Usurper wrote:

This is wrong on multiple levels. First, I'm a smoker and was asked to sign a petition against this measure recently. While I am not a fan of raising taxes, this one is a perfectly reasonable to me on multiple fronts.
First, it increases the price of cigarettes possibly encouraging people to either cut back or quit. That's health benefit #1.
Second, it provides insurance to kids. Kids who don't have it because their parents can't afford it. Bush is vetoing it because maybe it would encourage some people to drop their coverage to get in on this, and I say so god damn what? Adding 4 million kids who can see a doctor at the price of a few of them who quit paying KaiserPermanente? BFD.
Third, going back to issue one, a lot of those kids have health issues from the smokers. Is second hand smoke as dangerous as some people say it is (that is to say more dangerous than being the smoker)? I don't buy that one, but I don't have any question about its ability to cause problems, especially in kids, which is why I never smoked indoors when my daughter was around (and still don't).
This has nothing to do with birth controll so tossing that one in there is just obnoxious.
Finally, I do agree with the legalization issue. The are issues there as well, but primary health, based on a study at UCLA, does not appear to be one of them. So pot smokers could also foot part of the bill while making the world unsafe for Dorito's? Works for me.

But taking this argument out on kids who don't have coverage is a poor choice.

I don't think that the tax goes toward the general social good. Education would, but healthcare exclusively for kids seems unfair especially since the smoker might have a higher need of healthcare. If society determines kids must have healthcare, it's unfair to tax anyone other than working parents. I know plenty of hard working people who could use healthcare for themselves, and I really don't think its in any way sensible for them to pay for someones kid to get it instead. If the price hike is to encourage smokers to quit, that money would be better spent on programs which would help achieve this. Smoking is not a crime and I don't think they should be required to pay a fine in order to practice their vice because parents are unwilling to take care of their own children.

RE: Senate Panel Approves Huge Tobacco Tax To Fund Child Healthcare