I can add a second word to Shoebox’s one-word description of President Obama and apply it to Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. There are so many taxes that have gone up under Doyle’s tenure, but I will focus on just one: the cigarette tax. Doyle wants to jack that up another $0.75 per pack just over a year after he raised it $1.00 per pack, and in the same year that the federal government increased their taxes by $0.616 per pack (or a 58% increase).
First, let’s review what Doyle said as part of his 2003 State of the State address: “Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution — except one. We should not — we must not — and I will not — raise taxes.” (emphasis in the original). Oh really?
The cigarette tax in Wisconsin was $0.77 per pack when Doyle assumed control in 2003. In 2007, he signed into law an increase to $1.77 per pack, which took effect on January 1, 2008, which represents a 130% increase. By comparison, inflation was only 17.01% between 2003 and 2008 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Back in February, before Doyle released his Necrobudget (© Kevin Binversie), he pushed for the other quarter per pack increase that he sought two years ago. Quoting the Wisconsin State Journal story’s paraphrase of Doyle’s rationale at that time, “Since December, Doyle has been pointing out that two years ago he sought a $1.25 increase in the cigarette tax and had to compromise with Republican lawmakers for the $1 increase that became law — in effect leaving a quarter on the table.”
Allow me to translate for those of you who don’t quite get Doyle’s mindset – “The money’s mine, ALL MINE!”
Of course, it’s not going to go up a quarter; it’s going to go up three quarters. The explanation that it is to get people to quit doesn’t hold water; the Feburary Wisconsin State Journal story also noted that advocates say that a 10% increase in the total price is enough to create a significant cut in smoking. If memory serves (and it must; I don’t smoke), the price of cigarettes was somewhere around $4.50 per pack last month. At last check, $1.37 per pack in new taxes between Uncle Sam Hussein and Uncle Craps was well north of 10%.
