Speak Out Now!

Dear fellow cigar enthusiast,

The U.S. Senate will shortly vote on a proposal to expand the state children’s health insurance program by $35 billion.

Funding is to be provided solely through higher tobacco taxes. The tax increases on cigars are particularly punitive, as all large cigars would be subject to a tax of 53.13% of the manufacturer’s selling price. This is an increase of 156.4% over the current rate! And, while the current tax on cigars is capped so no cigar pays more than $.05 in federal taxes, the proposed legislation would increase the cap by 20,413% (not a typo) to $10 per cigar! The combination of these two factors will result in a dramatic increase in cigar prices in the U.S. and cause hardship and injury to consumers and cigar makers alike.

We urge you to contact your own U.S. Senators as well as the President(see link below), and urge them to vote to oppose the punitively high cigar tax increases in the state children’s health insurance legislation.

Visit http://rtda.org/legislation.html click "Take Action Now" and email your senators!