Tobacco-Free Kids Launches Campaign to Stop Congress’ Sweetheart Deal for Big Tobacco
Washington, DC (PRWEB) June 24, 2004 -- In response to the
U.S. House of Representatives’ plan to sneak through a “sweetheart deal” for Big
Tobacco by attaching it to an unrelated corporate tax bill, the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids has launched www.StopBigTobacco.org, a
nationwide campaign calling on the U.S. Senate to insist that this plan be
excluded from the final bill.
At issue is a provision of the House-passed
tax bill (called the Foreign Sales Corporation, or FSC, bill) that amounts to a
$10 billion, taxpayer-funded giveaway to tobacco companies. The provision was
added to win votes for the controversial tax bill from tobacco-state lawmakers.
It is billed as a buyout for tobacco farmers, but really amounts to a sweetheart
deal for tobacco companies and a raw deal for everyone else. This plan does
nothing to protect public health and reduce tobacco’s tremendous toll in health,
lives and money. It makes taxpayers pay for the buyout instead of the tobacco
companies, adds to the federal budget deficit and eliminates all price and
production controls on tobacco, which would allow tobacco to be grown anywhere
in the United States.
This House buyout shortchanges small family
farmers and provides an unwarranted windfall to the tobacco companies. Tobacco
companies benefit because they do not have to pay for the buyout and they end up
with cheaper tobacco. The Congressional Research Service has estimated that
tobacco companies will save between half a billion and two billion dollars a
year under such a buyout proposal.
Visitors to www.StopBigTobacco.org
can send a message to their Senators urging them to reject the House’s proposal.
The campaign, which was made public last week, has already generated over 17,000
letters from www.StopBigTobacco.org to Congress from Americans who believe
that Congress should protect public health, not Big Tobacco’s bottom line.
Voters know that that House buyout plan is a bad deal for them.
According to a nationwide poll of voters, conducted June 11-13, 80 percent are
opposed to the House tobacco buyout plan, including 67 percent who are strongly
opposed. Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike are strongly
opposed.
Instead of the House buyout plan, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids has urged Congress to pass separate legislation that includes effective
Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco products and a responsible
tobacco farmer buyout that is paid by the tobacco companies, not the
taxpayers.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is building a healthier
future for our children by changing public attitudes and public policies
regarding tobacco use. The Campaign strives to prevent kids from smoking, help
smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke. For more information,
go to www.tobaccofreekids.org.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/6/prweb135933.htm