Tuition plan reeks of California

In regards to Bill Moran’s editorial I must say that he is insulting many fellow Idahoans when he says that opposition to his tax initiative is un-American. Just because some of us do not agree with his ideas about taxing a product that only a portion of the Idaho population utilizes does not make us un-American. No one is opposing better tuition but we are already paying taxes for education and anyone who can read their property tax statement can see how much they are paying for education already.

I am in total agreement with Patty McEwen. Mr. Moran’s initiative sounds liberal like it came from California where this type of thing comes up all the time. Years ago when I lived there in 1998, liberal actor Rob Reiner came up with an initiative to tax cigarettes 50 cents a pack for early childhood development and smoking prevention programs in children. The proposition passed very narrowly by voters and went into effect Jan 1, 1999. Many of the left wing actors do this sort of thing all the time in California; it keeps their name in the headlines.

Anyone interested can go to ballotpedia.org and read about what a failure this program was and still is. If Mr. Moran’s initiative is truly about better tuition opportunities why didn’t he pick a product that everyone utilizes to tax instead of picking tobacco? Is it really education that is the center of this idea or is it to get people to stop smoking? I can’t help but wonder, why not ask for a half to one percent hike in sales tax to finance his project ? Is it because he thinks that most people hate cigarettes enough that they will vote for it? I personally do not smoke and have not since Jan 1, 1999 and this tax would not affect me but I do not feel that people who smoke should be forced to pay an astronomically high price for their bad habit such as it is. Cigarette smoking is legal after all.

Mr. Moran touts in his writings that many of the backers of this effort are republicans. It does not matter who backs this effort, in my opinion and yes everyone has one, the idea is so CALIFORNIA it reeks of LIBERAL POLITICS, pretty much like raising the income tax on the top earners for having the bad habit of being rich. He says in his article that the majority of users of tobacco products are between the ages of 18 and 35 and that 80 percent of that group supports this initiative. Isn’t it also true that the majority of recreational marijuana users are also in that age bracket? Why not get a proposal on the ballot to legalize recreational marijuana and charge a tuition tax on it? I would bet closer to 100 percent of that age bracket would go for that.

I agree that in America every child should have the chance for an education and I would personally vote for a way to make that happen if the initiative was to tax something that everyone consumes or utilizes.

Shirley Plumlee is a Post Falls resident.