A Better Pipe Smoking Community

...in a long time. We may have won a battle here. But, the war against smoker's rights wages on. We must remain pro-active in our own defense.

I wrote all the letters I could here in Virginia, my wife wrote, people I work with wrote letters for me and our cause. This is wonderful.

But I am going to tell the wife it is still going through so I can have a large TAD this month as well. He He

and not by a long shot with one of the bill's sponsors being chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
I do appreciate the professional help on the Hill over this however, especially from the cigar boys.

Me too Steve! IVe got one more TAD order to make, then I'm set. What she dont know wont hurt me.
Here is a reply I received from Rep. John Cornyn:

Dear Mr. Doty:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010 (H.R. 4439). I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

As you know, H.R. 4439 was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 13, 2010. This legislation would increase the tax on pipe tobacco from $2.83 to $24.78 per pound. H.R. 4439 was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for further consideration.

I believe that raising taxes will not provide much-needed fiscal discipline in Washington but will instead impose an unnecessary burden on working families and small businesses who are already struggling in today’s economy. Instead of raising taxes, Congress should focus on eliminating excessive overhead, wasteful spending and duplicative programs. In fact, the Government Accountability Office, an independent, investigative arm of Congress, has identified billions of dollars in federal expenditures that are vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. That is why I have supported numerous efforts in the Senate to save taxpayers billions of dollars. Most recently, I supported a group of amendments that would have collectively saved taxpayers $120 billion by reducing discretionary spending and cancelling the spending of federal funds that have been unspent for at least two years and not obligated for any purpose.

Furthermore, in an effort to combat wasteful government spending, I introduced the United States Authorization and Sunset Commission Act of 2009 (S. 926). This legislation takes steps to establish the necessary framework to create a federal sunset commission. The commission will improve congressional oversight and facilitate the elimination of obsolete and duplicative government programs—focusing on unauthorized and non-performing programs. This legislation is modeled after the Sunset Act, which the State of Texas instituted in 1977. The Sunset Act has led to the elimination of over 50 agencies deemed duplicative and has saved Texans more than $700 million, and I am hopeful that S. 926 will reap the same benefits.

I appreciate having the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

Sparks, Thanks so much for this information. Yes steve this is news to celebrate. Eric I have one more TAD order to make also and I will be in good shape. Steve I'm like you I don't think I am going to tell my wife, one can not have enough tobacco.

Congratulations on your efforts guys!!!

It's nice to here that, from time to time there is goverment that listens to the smokers!!

Here, in Croatia, something like that could not happen in years. We don't have such high taxes on pipe tobacco, but it is incresing every time the goverment needs money!! On the the other hand, pipe smokers are really a biiiiiiiiiiggg monirity here!!

Anyway, keep the good work!!

:-)

Otherwise I can't comment by forum rules.

Thank you for sharing your letter. We need a "JOHN CORNYN" to represent Wisconsin citizens!

Everything that's good to the USA pipe tobacco companies is good for the community, even for us that don't live in USA, it would be sad if companies like C&D or GLP went out of business only because their product is so taxed that it can't be sold with a profit.

Did you notice however that the majority of Mr. Corwyns letter was about "look what I did" lol, typical politician.

"Constant vigilence ..." and all that.

This is excellent. I wrote a letter to lap dog... er I mean blue dog democrat Brad Ellsworth and let him know my opinion of this bill. I didn't get a response.

Indiana is trying to push through a state wide public smoking ban which would mean we can't smoke in the lounge at the B&M anymore. WTF??