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Daily Kos Links 26th Parallel
You never know when you're going to get a Kos-alanche.
I just discovered that none other than The Daily Kos linked to a post I did last October regarding the S-CHIP bill and the proposed increase in taxes on cigars. They naturally liked my ribbing of Mario Diaz-Balart (I really do like Mario, but he deserved the dig), although I seriously doubt that the Kos readers will like much else about this humble blog.
You see, I'm one of those nasty conservative Republican Cuban-American indoctrinated (c)astro-haters.
Regardless:
Welcome Daily Kos readers! Make yourselves at home. Leave me a comment or three.
(Warning, I will respond back.) ;)
I just discovered that none other than The Daily Kos linked to a post I did last October regarding the S-CHIP bill and the proposed increase in taxes on cigars. They naturally liked my ribbing of Mario Diaz-Balart (I really do like Mario, but he deserved the dig), although I seriously doubt that the Kos readers will like much else about this humble blog.
You see, I'm one of those nasty conservative Republican Cuban-American indoctrinated (c)astro-haters.
Regardless:
Welcome Daily Kos readers! Make yourselves at home. Leave me a comment or three.
(Warning, I will respond back.) ;)
posted by Robert at 10:21 PM
6 Comments:
I remember that post and I defended MDB because the same Herald articles said:
Under a plan to pump $35 billion into the so-called SCHIP program, federal taxes on cigars would soar from 5 cents to an average of $3 per cigar, an increase of about 6,000 percent. Cigarette taxes would rise 61 cents, to $1 per pack.
$3.00 per cigar. If you don't think that would be disastrous to the industry you are kidding yourself.
How can anyone defend a $3.00 per cigar tax?
Disastrous to the cigar industry? Absolutely. Unfair? Yes.
An "attack" on the Cuban-American community? Not so much. It's that particular comment by MDB that I found over the top.
Robert, sometimes they forget it doesn't all have to do with the "Cuban-American" rhetoric. But we all swallow the bs like it was glazed donuts. There's a time and place for everything, but sometimes our leaders tend to tell us when that time and place is, guided by nothing more than self-interest. Other times, they just don't know any better. Don't know which is worse.
You ever roll your eyes at some of Al Sharpton's antics?
I did a search on citysearch for "Miami Cigar Shops" and found 195 listings. How many of those shops do you think are owned by Cuban-Americans? How many Cuban-Americans are employed by them?
How about cigar factories?
Citysearch has 5 of them listed in Miami. How many of them are owned by Cuban-Americans? How many employees are Cuban-American?
And what of the cigar factories overseas that are owned by Cubans and Cuban-Americans?
Who smokes cigars? Of course all types of people do. But on a per capita basis do you think there is a group of Americans that smoke more cigars than Cubans? I doubt it.
While the rhetoric may be a little over the top there is no doubt that many Cuban-Americans would be hurt by a $3 a stick tax.
Oh and you left out this very pertinent part of MDB's quote:
It would hurt an industry specifically in Miami-Dade, in South Florida, an industry that is almost entirely Hispanic: those who make cigars by hand, which is a cultural tradition. That industry will not survive.''
That's a very true statement. The extinction of the cigar industry would hurt Miami-Dade disproportionately as compared to any other area in the country. And as MDB pointed out the workers who would be put on the street would almost all be Hispanic and specifically Cuban.
Sorry dude. If the S-Chip is so important then they need to find another way to pay for it. A tax on NY prostitutes comes to mind.
Henry,
Just want to make sure you understand that I am neither in favor of the cigar tax nor the S-CHIP proposal that was presented last fall. In short, I hear you!
My ONLY issue in that post was the rhetoric used by both MDB and DWS to dramatize the whole issue beyond what was necessary. I know they're politicians, but it's OK to poke them in the ribs and tell them to keep it real every once in a while.
If MDB would have stuck with the facts (and used some of your data as prime examples), he would have sounded much better and much more credible.
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