In his address to a joint session of Congress on February 24, 2009, President Barack Obama said the following:

But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.

This echoed what he repeated many times on the campaign trail, including this on July 7th:

Now, no matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts. If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax, no tax. The last thing we should do is – in this economy is raise taxes on the middle class.

Of course, this is very sloppy. Notice how in the address he uses the words “your family"? That’s because he’s talking about joint income tax filing status. But if your are single (not in a family?), these numbers don’t apply, even though he neglects to mention that on the campaign trail.

Regardless, President Obama has already discarded this pledge, even before his address to Congress in February. On February 4 he signed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2). In this legislation, excise taxes on cigarettes are raised by 62 cents per pack, in addition to other increases on cigars and other tobacco products. What happened to “not … s single dime … no tax"? The tax increase goes into effect on Wednesday.