Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

Unless I missed it there are no plans for a stimulus check like last time and I have seen nothing in the news that leads me to believe anything they have been discussing will put cash in my hands anytime soon.

Chas

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

$400 for singles, $800 for families. Cap is a salary of $75,000 a year for singles, $150k for families.

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

Source ???

Everything I have read says no checks were even proposed in this bill.

Chas

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

my bad, not a check, but a "tax holiday", whatever that means.

Mr. Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax cut -- a payroll-tax holiday for workers -- was scaled back. The package set the value of the benefit at $400 for individual workers, down from $500 in the proposal he floated on the campaign trail, and at $800 for couples, down from $1,000. The benefit would phase out for workers making $75,000 a year and for couples earning $140,000.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123436825805373367.html

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

I just visited my local B&M and had a chat with one of the owners. She pulled out a letter she received providing information about the tax. Basically the retailer will pay the tax when they buy cigars starting on April 1. She buys directly from the manufacturer and not through a wholesaler. According the the U.S. manufacturers she has talked to, they will pay the SCHIP and add the 40¢ per cigar to the box price. On a box of 20, that comes to $8.00. That is the only time the tax will be added to the wholesale cost of the cigars. The B&M will then raise its prices to compensate for the $8.00. According to the owner, they are only going to raise their prices by the 40¢ per cigar.

They haven't figured out how this will work with foreign manufacturers. Some seem to think that the B&M will buy from these manufacturers and then have to report the purchase to the government and pay the tax.

At this time, her and her husband plan to buy as much stock as they can afford prior to April 1 and delay any price increases to the customer as long as possible.

On another note, she said that at least one manufacturer is considering reducing the price of the cigars themselves and increasing the same amount for packaging. Her example was that the manufacturer currently sales a box of cigars for $100. To help offset the cost of the tax, the manufacturer will sell the 20 cigars for $80 and charge $20 for packaging. Since the tax only applies to tobacco, this will reduce the amount of money collected on some cigars.

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

Personally, I won't keystone the tax, I'll just pass it along. BUT, there will have to be an extra .12 cents (30% here in NV.) added on top of the .40 cents making it .52 cents because the state of Nevada will treat the .40 cent SCHIP tax as Cost Of Goods and TAX THE TAX! What country did I wake up in this morning anyways?!

Re: S-CHIP Required Reading
 

Apparently that will be next to impossible as customs will really clamp down on packages from certain central European countries!

Bad news all around!