Tobacco Documents Online

. CONGRESSMAN HAL ROGERS WAYS AND MEANS TESTIMONY TOBACCO TAXES NOVEMBER 17, 1993 Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on behalf of the thousands of hard working families in Kentucky who grow tobacco. As you know, one of the reasons we're gathered here today is to discuss the merits of the President's plan to impose new, massive tax increases on tobacco products.... massive tax increases that I contend have less to do with providing health care, and more to do with killing our tobacco industry, and punishing the consumers of tobacco products. Over a five-year period, the President hopes to raise $65 billion from tobacco to help finance his health care plan. To get there, he has called for raising the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents a pack -- an increase of 312 percent. But he doesn't stop there...he's going further, much further. A 3,900 percent increase on snuff...1,851 percent on pipe tobacco...10,000 percent on chewing tobacco...and 109 percent on cigars. These clearly aren't reasonable proposals to help pay for health care reform. No, Mr. Chairman, this is about killing an industry and a critical source of family income in our rural communities. That's part one of what's at work here...but there is another equally dangerous precedent being set here. In my opinion, the President and his advisers are using the tax code as a hammer to squash a legal, lifestyle choice. I have to ask, Mr. Chairman, is that a proper way to use the tax code? Is it the role of this committee, this Congress, this government, to put the IRS in charge of making lifestyle choices for our people? " I certainly don't think so, and I'm sure you don't either. So what if the President is successful, Mr. Chairman? What would these massive tax increases mean to Kentucky, and the thousands of families who grow tobacco, process tobacco and sell tobacco?' Plain and simple.... economic disaster. Tobacco isn't just some small cottage industry that the people of Kentucky keep alive as a way of honoring our heritage. (more)

i t Rogers Statement/Tobacco Taxes Page Two Drive through any community in Eastern Kentucky, and you will find the roads, schools, homes and businesses that were built because of dollars derived from tobacco sales. I cannot overstate the importance of tobacco to my district and the state's economy. Kentucky is the world's largest producer of burley tobacco -- it is grown in 119 of our 120 counties and is Kentucky's No. 1 cash crop...worth nearly $1 billion a year. Every dollar f rom tobacco sales roll over three and a half times in our communities. Tobacco pays important bills in Kentucky ... it pays our mortgages, puts food on our tables, clothes in our closets, roofs on our schools, and computers in our classrooms. The tax hikes proposed by the President would cut Kentucky tobacco production by an estimated 15 percent ... cutting jobs and family incomes for small farmers, their suppliers, product manufacturing workers, distributors, retailers and many other small businesses. Hardest hit would not be the big cigarette companies the White House vilifies, but small, family farmers -- those people who for generations have managed their tobacco plot to insure they have enough income to afford life's basic necessities. These people aren't getting rich, Mr. Chairman, they're working hard to make ends meet...and no alternative crop is going to replace tobacco. I have one final objection to the tobacco taxes contained in the President's plan...they are immediate...in other words, health care today, means lost jobs tomorrow in tobacco towns. That's,not my definition of health care reform. Our task is to provide universal health care coverage for all Americans ... not kill an industry that employs thousands of American workers. As this committee works to fund a health care reform plan for the WHOLE country...all 300 million of us...I would urge you to make su're that any sacrifices made...are shared by all of us, not just one segment of our society. I would like to thank the Chairman for the opportunity to testify before this Committee today. I will be happy to answer any questions that Members may have. - end -