Dear friend,
We all want to improve our healthcare system, but Proposition 86 is the wrong solution. Prop. 86 is an unfair tax increase supported by special interests who are amending our Constitution and statutes to benefit themselves. Prop. 86’s proponents say it is about encouraging people not to smoke, but it isn't. It’s really a money grab by huge hospital corporations who will reap hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year! Here is why health care professionals and law enforcement, taxpayer and small business groups oppose Prop. 86:
Hospitals Write Their Own Rules
* Prop. 86 provides hospitals with a special exemption from antitrust laws, giving them legal protection to divvy up and limit many medical services. This would enable them to raise prices on those services without worrying about competition.
* Prop. 86 puts no limits on what hospitals can bill taxpayers for emergency services for the uninsured. Hospitals should not be allowed to charge taxpayers several times what they charge insurance companies for the same treatment.
Unfair Tax With No Accountability
* The largest share of the increase in tax revenue - nearly 40% - goes to hospitals, and less than 10% actually goes toward helping smokers quit or keeping kids from starting.
* HMOs will get millions each year from Prop. 86.
* The tax on cigars and pipe tobacco will increase to 135% from 46.76%, and cigarettes, $3.47 per pack from $0.87. This will raise in excess of $2 billion a year.
* Prop. 86 throws millions of dollars at new bureaucratic state programs without adequate legislative or governmental oversight. There are NO GUARANTEES how the money will actually be spent, or assurances the money will not be wasted. It will be nearly impossible for voters to know how the new taxes will be spent. Prop. 86 lists program after state program that gets a cut of the estimated $2.1 billion in new tax revenue.
Increases Our Deficit
* Prop. 86 contains 38 pages of spending mandates. But experts agree that the amount of money raised by this tobacco tax will decline over time. Declining revenues and demands to fund Prop. 86’s programs will only worsen our deficit. Other important programs like education, transportation and law enforcement might have to be cut, or taxes raised further.
* In-State taxable sales will fall because Prop. 86 increases tax on cigars and pipe tobacco by 189%, and cigarettes by almost 300%, which will create a major incentive for consumers to purchase through alternative channels such as the Internet, across state borders, through Native American territories and other illegal sales.
Increases Crime
* Increase crime and smuggling - Stolen and smuggled cigarettes are already a big source of money for gangs and organized crime. If Prop. 86 passes, a single truckload of stolen cigarettes could be worth over $2 million to criminals.
Shortchanges Our Schools
* Under California law approved by voters (Proposition 98), approximately 40% of any new taxes are dedicated to our schools. The huge hospital corporations don’t want to share with our schools and kids, so they included a CONSTITUTIONAL EXEMPTION (Section 15) so that NONE of these funds will go to our schools.
You can get more information from the No on 86 website, http://www.calliberty.org.
I sincerely hope you'll join me in voting "NO" on Proposition 86.
Please forward this e-mail to all of your colleagues, friends and family in your address book!
Paid for by California Association of Liberty and Choice, No on Prop. 86
http://www.calliberty.org
(California Fair Political Practices Commission Committee ID# 1289296)
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