Do You Have An Extra Cigarette?
Cigarette Tax to Pay for State Budget Deficits – Again!
As the states become more and more like homeless vagabonds and drug addicts looking for new ways to infuse cash into their depleted coffers they are targeting another group of addicts the tobacco addicts.
They want to increase the cigarette tax another $1 which would raise $9 billion to help close budget shortfalls, and hopefully convince more people to quit smoking. Of course if too many people quit smoking then they would lose more tax revenues. On the other, other hand another positive thing would be that there would be less smoking medical costs if more people quit, which would then save money as well for the states which spend millions on the medical effects of smoking for those without health insurance.
Only 33 percent of voters (or smokers) think that the tax is bollucks, as in some states they are already paying nearly $10 for a pack of cigarettes.
The report details the revenue and health benefits to each state of increasing its cigarette tax by $1 per pack. If every state and Washington, D.C., did so, they would:
- Raise $9.1 billion in new annual revenue;
- Prevent more than 2.3 million kids from becoming smokers;
- Prompt more than 1.2 million adult smokers to quit;
- Prevent more than 1 million premature, smoking-caused deaths; and
- Save $52.8 billion in health care costs.
The report, Tobacco Taxes: A Win-Win-Win for Cash-Strapped States, which is linked to above, was undertaken by a few anti smoking groups including the the Cancer Soceity and the Heart Association.
“This report shows that raising tobacco taxes is truly a win-win-win for the states. It is a budget win that will help protect vital programs like health care and education, a health win that will prevent kids from smoking and save lives, and a political win with the voters,” said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
According to the national poll released with the report:
- By a 67 percent to 31 percent margin, voters favor a $1 per pack increase in the state tobacco tax, with 53 percent saying they “strongly” support the tobacco tax increase. This support crosses political lines, with a majority of Democrats (70 percent), Republicans (68 percent) and Independents (64 percent) favoring the increase.
- Voters far prefer raising the state tobacco tax to other options for addressing state budget deficits. While 60 percent supported increasing the tobacco tax for this purpose, more than 70 percent opposed every other option presented, including higher state income, gasoline and sales taxes and cuts to education, health care, transportation and law enforcement programs.
- By a margin of 59 percent to 35 percent, voters prefer a candidate for state office who supports the tobacco tax over one who opposes it. This preference is expressed by majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
“We have irrefutable evidence that raising the tobacco tax lowers smoking rates among adults and deters millions of children from picking up their first cigarette,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., CEO, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. “An increase in tobacco tax rates is not only sound public health policy but a smart and predictable way to help boost the economy and generate long-term health savings for states facing deepening budget deficits.”
“When it comes to saving lives and injecting new revenue in depleted state coffers, we should not hesitate to support measures that will accomplish both,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. “Raising tobacco taxes will protect children and adults from tobacco use, reduce health care costs and revitalize critical health and education programs that too often fall victim to state budget cuts.”
“During these tough economic times, cigarette tax increases are both popular among voters and can significantly reduce long-term smoking-related health care costs,” said Charles D. Connor, American Lung Association president and CEO. “Spending some of the revenue on maintaining or increasing funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs makes cigarette tax increases even more effective.”
The scientific evidence is clear that increasing cigarette prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially among youth. The report’s projections are based on research findings that every 10 percent increase in cigarette prices reduces youth smoking rates by about 6.5 percent, adult smoking rates by two percent, and total cigarette consumption by four percent.
According to the report, states can achieve even greater financial and health benefits if they also increase tax rates on other tobacco products, such as smokeless tobacco and cigars, and dedicate some of their tobacco tax revenues to fund programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.
The current average state cigarette tax is $1.34 per pack, with rates ranging from a low of seven cents in South Carolina to a high of $3.46 in Rhode Island.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion a year in health care costs. Every day, another 1,000 kids become regular smokers—one-third of them will die prematurely as a result.
The national survey of 847 registered voters was conducted from January 20-24, 2010, by International Communications Research and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. More information, including the full report, state-specific information and detailed poll results, can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org/winwinwin.
