I need to point out that an excise tax increase would hurt a lower income family much more than those who have $50K or more of annual income. With the father of my children, when faced with a pay reduction, I used to be able to scale back on take-out food and going out to movie theaters, but since I have had to raise my two kids on my own, there has been no fat to cut. Reality is that if I were  to fill my son's asthma prescription, I would not be able to buy cereal. And if the prescription copay increased, I would be stuck. With my modest income as a teacher, I did not qualify for any type of aid. If implemented, the additional and extended excise tax will handcuff struggling households to near dire circumstances; earlier this week, it was reported on HPR that 48% of Hawaii's households live from paycheck to paycheck, and if this is accurate, than it is obvious that more people would become more vulnerable to homelessness. So NO, many people cannot control their spending.