On February 4th, President Obama signed a bill reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to provide health insurance for children in need. On the surface this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but lurking in details of how to pay for this new insurance coverage is an increase on tobacco taxes effective April 1, 2009. The new tax for “Large Cigars” is going to be 52.75% of manufacturer’s price with a cap of 40.26 cents. This is a considerable increase from the previous 4.8 cent cap, but this is a lot better than the proposed $3 cap from 2007.

Read more about this:

• IPCPR Legislative Action Center
• Obama Signs SCHIP @ CigarWeekly
• SCHIP Cigar Tax Increase to be Unveiled Today @ Stogie Guys