Our esteemed Governor, Ed "Fast Eddie" Rendell is only less than a week into his second term, and already he is showing his true socialist roots.
In a bold plan, he is pushing for universal health care. He is suggesting an increase in tobacco taxes, a "fair use tax" on employers, and a new never before seen tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars.
Rendell's insurance coverage proposal would impose a "fair share" tax on employers who do not provide health insurance equal to 3 percent of their payroll, increase the state's $1.35-per-pack cigarette tax, and tax smokeless tobacco and cigars for the first time. That money would be supplemented with federal matching dollars, Rendell said.The other states have taken varying approaches to paying for expanded insurance. Vermont, for example, relies on cigarette tax increases and a per-employee annual fee imposed on business that do not offer insurance, while the California proposal includes doctors and hospitals among those who must help pay.
Rendell acknowledged that the Legislature has been reluctant to tax smokeless tobacco and cigars, but said it was only fair to tax all tobacco products.
"How can we sit there and tax cigarette smoking and not tax smokeless tobacco and cigar smoking when we know the health risks and the cost to the overall public health system are just as great?" Rendell said.
Officials would not immediately say how much the proposed insurance expansion would cost or elaborate on the size of the proposed tax increases, saying that Rendell would provide those details in his Feb. 6 budget address.
Rendell is a true socialist. Four years into his administration, and we still have yet to see the promised property tax relief he promised would be the foremost priority of his first term. My guess is that what he considers property tax relief is really tax redistribution.
Hey Ed, how about you first deliver on property tax relief? You already raised fees on just about everything from property transfers to vehicle registrations. Maybe then we'll consider your ill-advised Marxist agenda.
Posted by psugrad98 at January 17, 2007 11:03 PM | TrackBackIsn't all "property tax relief" really tax redistribution? Maybe I don't fully understand the issue, so please correct me if I'm wrong. According to my property tax bill, it seems all that money goes to the local government. (and for what people seem to be paying, their streets should be paved in gold) If the state is somehow going to relieve the property tax, aren't they going to simply take the money from us in other ways and then give some to the local municipalities? If that's property tax relief, forget about it! Or does the state tax the local government? If that's the case, then I feel the state can and should relieve property taxes, but probably never will. The minimum wage increase infuriates me. Selling the turnpike is a great idea, but I'm guessing with the kind of contract the buyer would have to obey, no one in their right mind would want it. I still think Rendell's a good guy, he's in my father's lodge. But I definitely disagree with most of his policies.
Posted by: Daniel Kelly at January 18, 2007 03:27 PM
