Bill Gives Tax Breaks for Tobacco Exports September 14, 2000
News Summary
A bill expected to be voted on soon would give American tobacco companies an estimated $100 million in tax breaks a year for selling their products abroad, the Washington Post reported Sept. 12.The measure, which is supported by the Clinton administration, was expected to be voted on by the full U.S. House of Representatives this week.
While the bill has moved through the U.S. Congress with little opposition, public-health advocates and other tobacco industry opponents have criticized the willingness to continue export subsidies for tobacco. "I think it's a very difficult position for the administration to explain," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). "What we're doing here is promoting and subsidizing the sale of cigarettes to people abroad, and I find it unacceptable for that to be American policy."
Doggett tried unsuccessfully to kill the subsidy to tobacco companies when the measure was in the House Ways and Means Committee.
A Clinton administration aide said that while the President favors removing tobacco from the export subsidy list, he did not want to jeopardize the bipartisan accord on the legislation or hold up the bill. "The administration is caught a little bit between a rock and a hard place," the aide said.
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