Cash Flow From Tobacco

By Aislinn McLaughlin
The Blue Print
on Appropriations:

Today, the House passed The Research for the Future Act, a bill that repeals the Dicky-Wicker Amendment, and provides for the creation of a special committee to review the line of embryonic stem cells. The Appropriations Committee is responsible not only for deciding the amount of funds to appropriate, but the actual source of the funds.

So far the committee has suggested that funding come from an increase in taxes on potentially harmful substances, for example, tobacco. This would both discourage citizens from purchasing products that could be harmful to their health, and provide the committee with a surplus of funds to finance the laws it needs to implement. Though the Appropriations Committee may consider this a valid source of funds, purchasers of the product might disagree, arguing that the tax increase is unfair.

It remains to be seen how the House committee will fund the new law, although one thing remains certain. Whatever way the committee chooses to appropriate its funds, it will have to accept that it can never fully satisfy the desires of every group and individual.