Is Brian Perry a CINO?
Conservatism is a pretty simple philosophy: A belief that limited government and the free market best preserve our individual liberties and ensure our prosperity. Unfortunately for conservatism, many people who call themselves conservatives are actually CINO's: Conservatives in Name Only. The CINO loudly touts his conservatism but when push comes to shove, he will do things like vote for bailouts, support Medicare expansion, or work to sabotage the free market.
Brian Perry is a columnist for the Madison County Journal and former spokesman for Governor Barbour. While calling himself a free-market conservative, he is fighting to hike taxes on tobacco companies that didn't sign Mike Moore's tobacco settlement agreement. As the video above demonstrates, the tobacco companies agreed to the shakedown from Moore and his fellow AG's for several reasons. It protected them from future state lawsuits. It allowed them to fix their costs and pass them on to the consumer. It was to be a barrier for potential new competitors who weren't protected from future lawsuits. The states received billions of dollars from the deal while the tobacco companies received protection from the free market and further legal action. Not a bad deal if you can get it.
However, the free market is a pesky little thing. It has this funny way of responding to what consumers want much better than do the government and crony capitalists. In this case, Big Tobacco miscalculated when it decided to pay the vig to Vito and Bruno as it thought there would be no more competition. Unfortunately for Big Tobacco, the free market is teaching it a lesson it doesn't want to learn as tobacco sales by Non-participating (in the settlement) Manufacturers (NPM 's) are increasing due to their lower costs. According to a recent column by Sid Salter, Mr. Perry himself states NPM 's now have a market share of 14% in Mississippi. Most of these agreements are based on market share so the states and Big Tobacco have an interest in preserving their market share.
Mr. Perry and his clients have a solution for their problem and it is one familiar to liberals: raise the taxes on NPM tobacco sales. In true Clintonian fashion, Mr. Perry defends the tax hike as a free-market and thus conservative solution:
"Currently it is competing in a tobacco market where Mississippi has created a built in cost disadvantage for certain companies, including Altria. It wants to level the playing field and has advertised this fact on the radio. It is a pro-competition, pro-free market, pro-capitalism message.
Altria pays about 52 cents a pack above all taxes to Mississippi to off-set the health associated costs of smoking. Altria has proposed that other companies also pay for their health associated costs and has suggested 43 cents a pack as their share. It isn’t as high as the settlement companies like Altria, but it is still a fair share for the NPM’s contribution to health care costs. I believe 46 other states have an NPM fee; it is an established and workable policy option and for Mississippi could produce an additional $20 million per year. Additionally, under an equal NPM fee, whether a smoker continues to buy the NPM cigarette or switches to a different brand, the state would not be losing health care funds.
So it is a win-win-win situation for both Mississippi and Altria. Of course, Altria (Altria was formerly Philip Morris) benefits from a fair and competitive market place..." Mr. Perry's blog
Big Tobacco tries to rig the marketplace with the government's help only to see its efforts crumble as Smith's invisible hand works its magic. Like most companies that have seen their business threatened after hopping in bed with the government, Big Tobacco squeals for more taxation and government regulation while their hired gun talks about competitive marketplaces and how he believes in free markets. Obama's saying he doesn't want to run GM while firing the CEO comes to mind (In fact, part of Mr. Perry's blog reads as if it were written by a UAW chieftain complaining about Honda and Nissan). None of the NPM's agreed to the terms of the settlement yet Mr. Perry wants it imposed on them through a tax.
It should be pointed out there is nothing stopping Mr. Hood from pursuing the same course of action Mr. Moore did and seek damages from these manufacturers yet for some strange reason, Mr. Perry fails to mention that fact. There is nothing wrong with Mr. Perry advocating his position for his client. However, there is something wrong with someone calling raising taxes and working with the government to destroy competition a "pro-competition, pro-free market, pro-capitalism message".
5 comments:
As far as outlawing tobacco we tried that with alcohol, and Prohibition was such a social disaster it was the only Constitutional Amendment ever repealed. In the time since then no one has seemed to come up with a solution to get rid of a substance that is bad for society without making it lucrative for criminals.
My problem was more with someone using left-wing tactics to rig the marketplace while portraying it as free market conservatism.
Jack Kemp, a noted conservative on tax issues, once said: if you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it. I want less smoking, less cancer, etc. I am willing to let Mr. Perry step off the conservative ranch on this issue, since tobacco is a dangerous substance that should be outlawed. However, since no one has the balls to outlaw it, we should tax it to the point that the high cost deters smoking. That include higher taxes for ALL cigarette manufacturers, not just NPM's. And yes, the same for liquor, etc.
Oh and BTW, after my last comment (Above), in full disclosure, let me add that my wife is a smoker and I actually have to pay any higher taxes on tobacco, unfortunately
Part of the video is wrong as Congress did pass a law protecting the settlement from the federal government.
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