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Posted By – Paul Crawley – Updated On: 3/9/2010 6:02:34 PM

ATLANTA – One day after about 100 supporters urged the Georgia State Legislature to pass an extra dollar cigarette tax, another group of 100 or so rallied against it at the State Capitol — that and any other tax increase.

Sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, Tuesday’s group included many tea party activists as well as several conservative Republican lawmakers.

Even though the General Assembly is wrestling with balancing a budget with a hole of more than $1 billion, the protestors said raising taxes is not the answer.

“Step one is don’t raise taxes. Step two is stop the bleeding. Stop spending people’s money so much,” said national anti-tax activist Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, the keynote speaker.

While Tuesday’s crowd also railed against President Obama and the U.S. Congress, who don’t have to balance the federal budget, they also called for no tax hikes and less spending in Georgia.

Some conservatives in the Republican controlled legislature are split over whether to raise the cigarette tax or to accept GOP Governor Sonny Perdue’s call for a hospital bed tax.

Smaller government is a long held dream of GOP conservatives, some of whom feel their day has finally come now that Georgia’s tax revenues continue to tank.

“I certainly believe there’re areas that state government needs to shrink,” says State Representative Tom Graves (R-Ranger), who attended the anti-tax rally.

“We’re for less spending in all levels of government and we’re certainly for reducing the tax burden on individuals here in Georgia,” Rep. Graves added.

Sponsors of a higher cigarette tax had accused the organizers of Tuesday’s rally of accepting money from the tobacco industry.

Monday they circulated a news release promoting the anti-tax rally that was paid for by Altria Client Services on behalf of Philip Morris, USA, the nation’s large cigarette maker.

But after the anti-tax rally, organizer Virginia Galloway of Americans for Prosperity said the news release was not theirs, but one put out by the cigarette company itself.

“It caused some confusion, unfortunately, and a lot of people got the idea that we were sending out that invitation and that Altria was paying for us to send out that invitation, which was not the case at all,” Galloway told 11Alive News.

On Monday House Speaker David Ralston, who opposes a higher cigarette tax, told 11Alive News he’d been invited to the rally, but wasn’t aware of any possible connection to Philip Morris.

Rep. Ralston said that would not change his plans to attend, but he was noticeably absent.

Some who attended the rally said they had a photo made with Ralston inside the capitol earlier in the day.
By Paul Crawley
3 March, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY — Should state lawmakers raise the tobacco tax or dip further into the rainy day fund to save education? A powerful business group says lawmakers should do both, but the governor and some legislators aren’t so sure.

It’s not often the state’s leading business group, the Salt Lake Chamber, calls for new taxes; but that’s exactly what it did Wednesday.

The Chamber is urging state leaders to hike the tobacco tax $1 from its current rate of 69 cents. It says that will raise about $40 million a year and help prevent potential higher education layoffs of nearly 1,400 faculty members and staff.

“My fear is that all this investing we’ve done in education over the last decades is going to come to a halt and we’re going to lose that competitive advantage that we have in our workforce, which is our No. 1 tool we have in our toolbox for economic development,” says Jeff Edwards, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah.

The Chamber also wants lawmakers to tap into the rainy day fund for $50 million to meet new, lower revenue projections.

“Ladies and gentleman, it’s raining. We need to make sure that we take care of our children and our young adults. We need to make sure that we’re not taking a step backwards,” says Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber.

Many lawmakers seem ready to look at either option.
“Increasing the tobacco tax from its current rate of 69 cents per pack of cigarettes to the national average of approximately $1.40 would generate an estimated $40 million for the state.” -Salt Lake Chamber

“The battle over there is how much is it going to be? So, is a dollar the amount in the Senate?” asks Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield. “I’d like to think we’re going to be able to keep it as a dollar as we go through; when all is said and done, we’ll come out at $1.70 a pack here in Utah.”

“When you have a business organization step up and call for targeted tax hikes, I think it’s significant,” says Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones, D-Salt Lake City.

Others worry about drawing too much from the rainy day fund, or upping anyone’s taxes.

“Where do you get the money from? And if by taking the money away from taxpayers, and thereby chill the recovery that were occurring, then you just spiral further in debt,” says Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

Gov. Gary Herbert reiterated his “no new tax” stance Wednesday, telling the Deseret News he’s prepared to veto a cigarette tax. He said it would hurt the state’s economic recovery. Instead, the governor favors taking more from the rainy day fund and delaying some road projects.

February 24th,
By John Daley

Many smokers and former smokers will tell you, it`s not easy to kick the tobacco habit, but some tobacco prevention advocates say there`s a sure-fire way to make it easier; raise the tax on tobacco products.

The report shows voters across the country say raising the tobacco tax by a dollar per pack of cigarettes is their preferred way to address state budget deficits.

North Dakota isn`t exactly strapped for cash, but the report released by a number of tobacco prevention groups like the American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids shows increasing the tax on tobacco products by one dollar will bring $28 million of revenue to the state.

“While we`re not in a budget deficit, there`s still really good health programs that are going unfunded and this is a good way to generate new revenue to cover those health programs,” said Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Executive Director Jeanne Prom.

Tobacco Prevention advocates say the best part about the increase is that the report shows it will keep 4,900 kids in North Dakota from becoming smokers, and will spur 3,200 current adult smokers to quit. The Center For Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy says price is everything when it comes to tobacco use.

“We need to raise the tax so it`s hard to start and easy to quit and when we raise the tax, more people will quit and those who do continue will probably smoke less and that`s all meaning a better health outcome for our state,” said Prom.

While prevention advocates call it a progressive tax, others call it regressive because most smokers are middle and lower class, and raising the cost of cigarettes won`t make them kick the habit, instead it will just hurt their pocketbooks even more.

“It just hurts the lower, middle class and poor people the most and the state quite frankly doesn`t need the revenue and so it seems to me like it`s a solution in search of a problem,” said Narloch.

But tobacco prevention groups say smoking in North Dakota is a problem and when people are faced with the choice between cigarettes and food, they`ll make the choice to quit their tobacco habit.

The Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy says it`s confident a price hike will urge people to quit because about a year ago when the federal tax was raised by about 60 cents, the Quitline saw a big increase in the number of callers asking for help to stop smoking.

The Russian parliament’s plans to sharply increase taxes on tobacco would create a boom in illegal trade in cigarettes and ultimately harm public health, according to the Finance Ministry.

The State Duma is considering a bill to raise excise duties on tobacco threefold in 2011 as part of government efforts to improve public health in Russia, which has one of the highest smoking rates in the world.

The ministry fears the bill would trigger a rise in illegal cigarettes sales, after similar laws have seen illegal tobacco markets thriving in the Baltics.

“High excise duties would prompt people to buy cheap and illicit tobacco products. This would hardly be to the benefit of public health,” the ministry said in a report.

Cigarettes in Russia are the cheapest in the developed world, with smokers paying around a dollar for pack a that costs $8 in the United States. Russian filterless cigarettes – including the notorious “papirosy” – cost less than 30 cents a pack.

The World Health Organization says more than 60% of Russian men are smokers, and about 400,000 Russians die from smoking-related diseases annually.

With smoking and alcoholism cited as two of Russia’s most widespread public health problems, Russian men have a life expectancy of only 60 years. President Dmitry Medvedev has begun to try to cut alcohol consumption, with a new law coming into effect on January 1 that set the minimum price of a standard half-liter bottle of vodka at 89 rubles (about $3).

MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)

A new tax regime for asset transfers from parents to their children – which will be finalised after completion of a so-called “social dialogue” over proposed changes to the country’s tax system — is foreseen in an amendment tabled in Parliament by the finance ministry late Thursday evening.

The same amendment also envisages higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.

The late-night amendment stipulates that tax on gifts or parental asset transfers will be calculated under an existing status but on temporary basis. Final settlement will be made under a new law, following deliberations between the government and so-called “social partners”.

A finance ministry statement, issued on Friday, referred to the current PASOK government’s policy statement as well as comments by the prime minister – on Dec. 13 — advocating a reinstitution of inheritance, gift and parental asset transfer taxes. The ministry press release also opined that the measure was fair.

Under the amendment, tabled in Parliament, the government will raise the special consumption tax on cigarettes from 57.5 pct to 70 pct and on alcohol by 20 pct, a move aimed at reaching the average tax rates prevailing in the EU. The new taxes will be valid from Jan. 12 and Jan. 8, respectively.

The ministry said it estimates that the measures will raise an additional 930 million euros annually from tobacco products, and around 70 million euros from alcohol.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Mark Parkinson will propose increasing Kansas’ tobacco taxes next year, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The Democratic governor’s plan is likely to face strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Legislature, although the Senate’s top leader said he’d support the idea.

Parkinson spokeswoman Beth Martino said the governor hasn’t settled on how much of an increase he’ll propose. But she hinted that he’s considering asking legislators to bring Kansas’ cigarette tax up to the national average.

Kansas’ cigarette tax is 79 cents a pack. The national average for states and the District of Columbia is $1.34 a pack, according to the Washington-based group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

“He is going to pursue a tobacco tax of some sort,” Martino said. “He is still looking at the options.”

Martino said Parkinson has not decided whether to ask legislators to dedicate the new revenues to health programs, or use it to help the state balance its budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1.

Legislative researchers estimate that increasing the cigarette tax by 55 cents, to $1.34 a pack, would raise about $88 million during the next fiscal year. The state also imposes a 10 percent tax on other tobacco products, but doubling it would raise only $5 million during the next fiscal year.

Parkinson said last week that he’s not planning to propose deeper cuts in spending to avoid a budget deficit for fiscal 2011. The state has had five rounds of cuts and other adjustments to keep the budget balanced for the current fiscal year.

He said he’s considering proposals to eliminate exemptions to the state’s sales tax and eliminate tax breaks granted in previous years. And he didn’t rule out raising some tax rates.

Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, said a cigarette tax increase would have the best chance of any proposal to raise tax rates.

“I would support it,” Morris said. “I think it’s probably the only tax increase that would have the possibility of getting through the Legislature.”

But many GOP legislators, particularly House conservatives, worry any revenue-raising measures will slow the state’s economic recovery and hurt struggling families.

House Taxation Committee Chairman Richard Carlson, a St. Marys Republican, said states typically raise taxes near the end of recessions — only to see revenues boom upon recovery.

“I’m going to be very cautious about looking at tax increases,” Carlson said. “I think Kansas will grow out of this recession. We just need to look at it in the long-term.”

Merchants also worry about losing business to other states. While Colorado and Oklahoma have higher cigarette taxes, Nebraska’s is lower, and Missouri’s, at 17 cents a pack, is second-lowest in the nation, behind only South Carolina.

Public health advocates have long argued that Kansans will support higher tobacco taxes if the money is used for health care programs.

But in 2002, when legislators boosted the cigarette tax from 24 cents, they did it to help close a budget shortfall. When then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius outlined a plan in 2004 to raise tobacco taxes for health care, legislators ignored the proposal for several years.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On July 1, Florida’s cigarette tax increased to $1.34 and during the four months since then, cigarette sales have dropped 27 percent, the Miami Herald reports. However, collection of tobacco taxes in the state is on target, thanks to an accurate forecast of sales declines by state economists.

The higher tax provides Medicaid with needed funds. Economists predicted last week that the $1 a pack increase would bring in $881 million in 2009 and $907 million in 2010. The new tax has raised money in excess of the amount predicted to be lost because of declining cigarette sales.

“This is working exactly the way we had hoped,” said state Sen. Nan Rich, who was in favor of the tax. “We wanted to cut down on smoking and keep healthcare programs from being cut.”

However, not everyone is rejoicing at this news. The Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association pointed out that fewer cigarette sales is harmful to small stores because tobacco products bring in customers, who then also buy 34 percent of other in-store items, such as beverages and snacks, in addition to cigarettes.

“Any time you reduce sales by big percentages, you eliminate a significant portion of profit that retailers use for things like payroll and rent,” said Jim Smith, president and CEO of the association. “If you’re a customer and you’re not going in for cigarettes, you’re not going to go in at all. And a lot of sales at convenience stores are impulse buys. That cuts into the bottom line.”

Smith also pointed out that the state faces heavy losses in payments from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. “Tobacco companies pay the state 40 cents a pack for every pack sold, and those revenues are significantly lower and will continue to fall,” he told NACS Daily.

North Florida smokers are likely slipping over the state line into Georgia, where the tax is around 97 cents lower. Smith said he’s heard that Georgia convenience stores along the border have seen a five-fold jump in overall sales.

“The reduced sales are not an indicator that people have quit,” said Smith. “I’m certain that some have, but I’m just as certain that many consumers are purchasing online, at Indian smoke shops, crossing state lines and no doubt some smuggling cigarettes.”

When the federal government raised the tax on the loose tobacco people use to roll their own cigarettes a staggering 2,000 percent, companies stopped selling “loose tobacco.” Smokers stopped buying it. Very little of the projected tax revenue of $35 million per month appeared.

Yet smokers still roll their own cigarettes and still legally buy the ingredients.

Pipe tobacco is taxed at a rate of $2.83 per pound. Loose cigarette tobacco is now taxed at $24.78 per pound. Although pipe tobacco is, in general, cut rougher and sold moister than that used for cigarettes, there is no legal distinction between the products. They are taxed based on what their labels call them.

In just a few months, the production of tobacco labeled for pipes rocketed from 270,000 pounds per month to 1.7 million pounds per month. The production of tobacco labeled for cigarettes plummeted from 1.5 million pounds per month to 660,000.

It shows what happens when taxes unfairly target specific behaviors and assault narrow groups. Savvy producers and consumers have switched to unusually dry, unusually fine “pipe tobacco” for rolling their smokes.

There is no justification for hiking the tax rate of any legal product 2,000 percent. It places an undue burden on consumers of a legal product, and in this case, it placed an undue burden on the group of mostly small businesses that produce loose tobacco.

The tax increase, enacted alongside hikes in the federal levy on cigarettes and cigars, is pointlessly discriminatory. Why should people who place their tobacco in cigarettes be charged 10 times as much tax as people who place their tobacco in a pipe?

Again and again we see that taxes meant to change the behavior of the taxed backfire. They rarely raise the revenue their proponents promise, generally don’t cause people to act as predicted and often create unintended consequences.

The fairer a tax is, the harder it is to evade. An income tax, if the government stopped providing deductions targeted to manipulate behavior, would be fair and almost impossible to circumvent. A sales tax, if the government applied it to all items rather than excluding goods and services it wants you to buy, would be fair and almost impossible to evade. A property tax, if it simply reflected a set rate multiplied by the current value of property rather than varying based on behavior legislators want to encourage, would be fair and almost impossible to evade.

Seemingly incapable of learning, the federal government is now looking to set stricter legal distinctions between pipe and cigarette tobacco in an attempt to collect its money. Unmentioned is the issue of why the tax on one should be 10 times the tax on the other.

Perhaps government policymakers think pipes are cool and intellectual, and home-rolled cigarettes are just uncouth. If so, that’s a poor rationale for tax policy.

November 17, 2009 Goupstate

TALLAHASSEE — Cigarette sales have fallen sharply across Florida since a $1-a-pack tax increase took effect July 1, plunging nearly 50 percent in some counties.

Statewide, cigarette sales that regularly topped 100 million packs per month dropped to 73 million packs the month the tax became law. Since then, sales have inched back to around 78 million packs but remain well below prior levels.

To supporters, the sagging sales are evidence that the tax is meeting its public health objective: getting smokers to quit. Critics, however, say many people are simply buying their cigarettes elsewhere or switching to items that aren’t subject to the higher tax, like small cigars.

The state charge on cigarettes is now $1.34, compared with the 34-cent tax that had been in place since 1990.

“It’s working exactly the way it was designed to work. People are quitting,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, a cigarette tax champion. “If I could, I’d raise it another dollar.”

The state tax isn’t the only factor influencing sales. A 62-cent federal cigarette tax increase also went into effect last April. And Florida is a national leader in job loss and home foreclosures, which is surely pinching some of the state’s 2.7 million smokers.

The most dramatic decline in cigarette sales was in Miami-Dade County. In June, the month before the higher tax took effect, retailers and convenience stores sold 8.9 million packs; a month later, 4.4 million. Sales since rose to 6 million packs in September, the latest month for which county-by-county information is available.

Cigarettes sales in Broward and Palm Beach counties both saw a similar initial decline — evidence of sticker shock among smokers — and then recovered a bit. Broward’s monthly clip of about 6.5 million packs now is below 6 million packs a month. Palm Beach County sales dropped from around 5.5 million packs to 4 million.

Despite the sharp falloff in cigarette sales, the new tax is bringing in as much revenue as expected. Anticipating a drop in smoking rates, state economists predicted the extra $1 charge would generate $958 million this year. Through October, the tax had brought in $325 million — on track to meet or slightly exceed the target.

While the cigarette tax was used to help plug Florida’s budget shortfalls, Gov. Charlie Crist and legislators cited public health as the primary motivator.

Dramatically lower cigarette sales surely chip away at the state’s smoking rate, which is 20 percent for adults. But how much is not clear.

There were 7,900 calls to the state’s tobacco quit line in the three months after the new tax took effect, a 25 percent increase over the same period in 2008. But the state also beefed up its anti-smoking TV, radio and billboard advertising campaign, which helps account for the higher call volume.

At Mike’s Beer Barn in Tallahassee, whose owner lobbied for cigarette manufacturers, customers haven’t necessarily given up smoking, but they switched to cheaper brands, said general manager Dan Felger.

Instead of buying Marlboros — now $6.29 a pack — more are opting for little cigars that sell for $1.50 a pack or low-cost Dosal cigarettes, on special at two packs for $7.

Barney Bishop, president of the Associated Industries of Florida, which fought the cigarette tax increase, conceded the tax might persuade some smokers to quit, but he said many more will simply get creative. Smokers will stock up during trips to low-cost states, he said, or buy cigarettes tax-free over the Internet. Border counties have seen some of the sharpest declines in cigarette sales.

“People aren’t buying fewer cigarettes, they’re just not paying taxes,” he said.

Waldman, though, noted that people who are worried about the tax probably can’t afford to buy a dozen cartons of cigarettes on a trip to Georgia. He said there’s been a “perfect storm” in Florida to get smokers to kick the habit. “The recession, the increase in the cigarette tax — it came together at the right time,” he said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The health surcharge of NT$20 imposed on every pack of cigarettes sold will be subject to a 5 percent business tax (or value-added tax), according to revisions to the Business Tax Law that passed the first reading by the finance committee of the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

Based on the revisions, if one pack of cigarette sells for NT$50, including the NT$20 health surcharge, then the five percent business tax will be imposed on the base of NT$50, instead of the existing NT$30.

At the moment, the annual health surcharge income from sales of cigarettes amounts to around NT$30 billion, and the 5% business tax on the surcharge, if put into practice, will bring the state an additional annual income of NT$1 billion.

After the 5% percent business tax is imposed on cigarettes, consumers will inevitably pay more to buy cigarettes. Whether this will undermine their willingness to buy tobacco products remains to be seen.

The revisions also stipulate that the five percent business tax should be incorporated into the pricing structure for commodity products and services. Violators will be fined NT$1,500 to NT$15,000. In other words, the price tag for any commodity or service should include the five percent business tax.

Dealers of higher-price commodities or 3C products have usually told consumers if they don’t demand invoices, the five percent won’t be calculated into the sales prices, thus evading business tax payment. Such a practice will be fined after the newly revised Business Tax Law is ratified by the Legislative Yuan.

Meanwhile, the business income tax applicable to foreign securities firms will be slashed to 3 percent from the existing 5 percent, rather than 2 percent as proposed by the Ministry of Finance. This is because the business tax income contributed by domestic securities firms and other financial institutions will be funneled into the Resolution Trust Company fund designed to relieve financially-troubled institutions, while the income contributed by foreign securities firms will be directly funneled into national coffers.

November 6, 2009 Chinapost

A majority of the 20 companies billed for a new cigarette tax have paid.

Responding to a lawsuit, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Patricia Wise issued a temporary restraining order in the case last month, preventing the state from collecting the tax.

The tax – which is typically 20 cents a pack – was due in mid-October. It’s applied to cigarettes warehoused in Mississippi for sale in other states.

The state billed 20 manufacturers $537,499. Sixteen manufacturers paid a total of nearly $282,687, said Kathy Waterbury, spokeswoman for the state Tax Commission.

In a lawsuit, The Corr-Williams Co., a Pearl-based distributor, and Commonwealth Brands, a Bowling Green, Ky.-based cigarette manufacturer, are challenging the constitutionality of the state taxing goods for sale in other states.

This tax only applies to cigarette manufactures not included in the state’s 1997 tobacco settlement.

The lawsuit does not involve cigarettes that are sold in the state.

Commonwealth paid the $56,000 tax bill in protest, said Rob Wilkey, the company’s attorney. The company has said that about 80 percent of the cigarettes it sends to Mississippi are destined for sale in other states.

The temporary restraining order remains in effect until Tuesday, the day of the next hearing.

For bills due this month, manufacturers have been billed $458,701, Waterbury said.

In granting the order, Wise wrote the harm in this case would be greater for Corr-Williams than the state, “even considering the present economic condition of the State of Mississippi and the potential implications of up to $590,000 a month in reduced revenues,” the order might cause to the state’s budget.

The judge also said there might be a loss of jobs and tax revenue if distributors such as Corr-Williams leave or move part of their operations out of the state.

The state began assessing the 1.25-cent per cigarette tax in July. The first payments were due last month.

Commonwealth describes itself as the fourth largest cigarette manufacturer in the country. Its brands include Premier, McClintock and Rave, among several others.

In its effort to get state tax nixed, Commonwealth argues that it’s being taxed twice if Mississippi is allowed to institute the tax against the non-settling manufacturers. The company voluntarily joined a settlement agreement with 46 other states, With that agreement, Commonwealth pays taxes based – in part – on its cigarette sales, including those in Mississippi.

The Corr-Williams Co. has argued that the additional tax would add to the price of its products, making it less competitive in the marketplace.

LaRaye Brown, November 5, 2009

MERIDEN, Conn.—On a recent afternoon, Lynn Lombardi stepped out of the Day Spa in Southington for a sidewalk smoke. A Prospect resident, Lombardi was there with her daughter, Jessica, who was to be married the following day. Lombardi was taking a break from getting “gussied up for the big day” to smoke a Newport.

Lombardi’s been a cigarette smoker for 33 years, starting when she was 13. She smokes about a pack a day, usually taking two or three puffs before tossing the cigarette away.

Her habit is about to get even more expensive.

On Thursday, the state tax on cigarettes will increase by a dollar, from $2 to $3 for a pack of 20, or from 10 cents to 15 cents for each cigarette. The increase makes Connecticut second only to Rhode Island, where the state tax is $3.46 per pack.

Connecticut increased the per-pack cigarette tax from 50 cents to $1.11 in 2002, added another 40 cents in 2003 and raised the tax again, to $2 a pack, in 2007.

None of this has kept Lombardi from smoking, and she doesn’t expect the $3-per-pack tax to stop her now.

“It’s not going to affect me,” she said. “I’ll still buy the cigarettes.”

Lombardi tried to quit smoking not too long ago during a hospital stay, with the help of a nicotine patch, but “when I got out, I decided that I did not want to quit smoking.

“I don’t know if I could quit just yet,” she continued. “I’ve been smoking for so long, I don’t know if I could think of myself without a
cigarette.”

Across Center Street from the Day Spa, Paul E. Raczynski runs “Fire N Smoke,” a shop that specializes in cigars, other tobacco products and, somewhat incongruously, hot sauce. Cigar sales make up about 95 percent of his business, he said.

On Thursday, the state tax on those tobacco products will increase from 20 percent to 27 percent. The price of the only cigarettes Raczynski sells, American Spirit, will rise from $8 to $9 a pack.

Many cigar enthusiasts smoke just one or two a week, but there are others who puff anywhere from six to a dozen a day, said Raczynski, who was preparing for his second annual party, an all-you-can eat, all-the-beer-you-can-drink Cigar B-Que for an anticipated 70 participants. The entertainer George Burns enjoyed 12 to 15 cigars a day, Raczynski pointed out, “and he lived to be over 100.”

“Probably,” said Raczynski, when he was asked if the tax increase would hurt his sales. “It’s going to hurt the manufacturers, I think, more than it’s going to hurt me.”

The tax increase on tobacco products was part of the overall state budget, the resolution to a standoff between Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Democrat-controlled legislature over closing a projected multibillion-dollar deficit, and there are lawmakers who say they would not have voted to approve it as a standalone bill.

“I think at this point it’s too punitive,” said state Rep. Emil “Buddy” Altobello, D-Meriden.

Though he voted to approve the budget, state Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, a Berlin Democrat whose district includes part of Southington, considers the tax regressive because it targets those low on the income scale. “We keep going back to the same area,” he said.

“I think the smokers will tell you that enough is enough,” Aresimowicz said.

He kicked the nicotine habit a few months ago, he said, after 15 years of on-and-off smoking that never reached more than five cigarettes a day. He quit with the help of the medication Chantix. Among the motivations was his work with youth groups and his desire to set an example.

“It always worried me that if they saw me, it wouldn’t be sending the right message,” he said.

Advocates say the tax increase will help deter youngsters from picking up the habit and discourage young smokers because it’s become so expensive.

But there are those who feel it’s not right to tax cigarettes without spending at least some of the money raised on smoking-cessation initiatives.

The hope was that some of the money would go toward programs like nicotine replacement therapy for Medicaid patients, “and that just hasn’t happened,” said Margaret R. LaCroix, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of New England.

“I go further and call it immoral and unjust,” said Dr. Patricia Checko, an epidemiologist who is chairwoman of the coalition MATCH, which stands for Mobilize Against Tobacco for Connecticut Health. The coalition includes the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association.

Studies indicate that for every 10 percent tax increase on cigarettes, there’s an overall decrease in consumption of 3 percent to 5 percent, and 6.5 percent among young-adult smokers.

“The group we have the biggest effect on when we raise taxes is youth,” said Checko.

Those heavily addicted, however, will “give up other things just to feed the habit,” she said. “That’s a very serious issue for those on the low-income level.”

The smoking level among those on Medicaid is 45 percent, said Checko.

“The other reason to look at Medicaid clients is that these are the people who will have the greatest health costs down the road,” she said.

Smoking is more prevalent among those on lower education and income levels, “so the people who need it the most have no access,” Checko said.

The coalition is calling for $9 million of the money raised by the tax increase each year – by some estimates, that will be as high as nearly $100 million the first year – to go toward cessation efforts, including $5 million for a statewide telephone quit line.

“We’re very concerned that they might not be funded at all, and this is something that has been shown to work very well,” said Checko, adding that “given the economic times, it’s going to be difficult.”

Difficult economic times called for difficult decisions.

“Did we want to tax cigarette smokers particularly? No,” said House Majority Leader Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden. “Are we happy about that? No.

“We have a budget that funds a lot of things that smokers use, too,” he continued. “The state General Fund does things that smokers use. We fund Medicaid, so to say it doesn’t go to smokers – it does, but not to all smokers.”

The smoking rate among adults in Connecticut is 18 percent, or about 450,000 people, with the rate among high school students at 21 percent, Checko said.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids applauded the state tax increase because it will help keep an estimated 24,000 state youth from turning into addicted smokers. But the state is missing an opportunity by not directing the funds toward Medicaid cessation programs, said Kevin O’Flaherty, director of advocacy for the organization’s northeast region. Funding for Medicaid would be matched by federal dollars, he said.

“They’re leaving something on the table,” he said. “They could get so much more out of it.”

Connecticut, now with the second highest cigarette tax, remains one of just a few states that do not provide Medicaid smoking-cessation coverage, and it ranks low in prevention funding in general. The other states that provide no tobacco prevention services at all under Medicaid are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.

Connecticut’s attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, called the tax increase “egregiously regressive.”

“I supported a cigarette tax increase only if some of the revenue would be used for smoking cessation programs, because I believe that forcing people who are addicted to nicotine to pay higher taxes is blatantly unfair and ineffective if we fail to provide help to those in breaking that addiction,” he said.

Connecticut continues to use little of the more than $100 million a year it receives from the settlement with tobacco companies, which Blumenthal signed in 1998, on smoking cessation or prevention.

Connecticut’s tax increase will put the average state tax on cigarettes at $1.34 a pack, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. South Carolina has the lowest state cigarette tax rate, at seven cents a pack.

South Carolina funds smoking-cessation therapies under Medicaid, including the patch and Chantix, though coverage does not include individual or group counseling. Rhode Island, the highest taxing state, provides Medicaid funding for all cessation therapies, including counseling.

South Carolina is also one of just four states not to have raised the tax on cigarettes since 2000. The others are California, Missouri and North Dakota.

Smoking would be banned in all enclosed public venues and penalties would be increased under new draft legislation for Beijing.

Cui Xiaobo, professor of Social Medicine at the Capital Medicine University, also a tobacco control expert helping draft the anti-smoking law, said a total ban was the only practical solution for public health.

“The city’s work on anti-smoking has indeed made a great achievement, thanks to the smoking regulation, effective May 1, 2008, a way to meet the country’s pledge of a smoke-free Olympics. But there is still more to be done,” Cui said.

Smoking restrictions are in place in about 70 percent of public venues in the capital. About 1,200 restaurants, 218 hospitals, and 66,000 taxis are smoke free.

But the current penalty for individuals found smoking in banned areas is just 10 yuan ($1.4).

According to the draft, the penalties for individuals who flout bans will be about 200 to 1,000 yuan, and it would be about 30,000 to 40,000 yuan for venues.

“The cigarette smoking rate decreased to 21.5 percent last year, 1.5 percentage points lower than 2007,” Cui said, referring to his survey conducted of 6,000 Beijing residents last October.

“More importantly, more and more residents are beginning to be aware of the harm of smoking.”

The survey found about 84 percent of residents supported the total ban in all enclosed public places.

In addition, more than 70 percent of Beijing residents wanted the government to raise fines for establishments if they fail to prevent smokers from lighting up cigarettes.

“Harsher penalties for establishments and individuals is an important way to ban smoking, but this is just an initial proposal,” Cui said.

“The draft will be completed by the end of the year, and then sent to Beijing municipal people’s congress for a decision.”

Qiao Jingyao, 23, a manager at Sculpting In Time cafe welcomed the proposal.

“It will not only stop people smoking in restricted areas, but also save thousands of people’s lives.”

The cafe has already established a smoking section, twice the size of non-smoking area.

“We receive about 190 to 200 guests each day, and most of them smoke. Staff have to work and breathe in second-hand smoke. Such a ban would be a big step forward in public health, especially for the restaurants workers,” Qiao said.

But a student surnamed Jiang from the University of International Business and Economics said people would continue to smoke regardless of the law.

“The problem is that when the ban comes in, people will move into the streets or come back home, and then smoke more, they can not ban smoking completely,” she said.

Oliver Dick, 28, from Germany, said many European countries have strict bans on smoking in public places.

When asked about he what to do if the ban was carried out in Beijing, Dick said he would go outside to smoke.

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tobacco, with more than 300 million people smoke and 54 million second-hand smokers. About 600,000 people died of lung cancer in 2008 across the country, an estimated one million more died of tobacco-related diseases.

It is estimated that about 100 million will die from smoking-related diseases by 2050 if no measures are taken, according to the latest figures from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Copyright © 2009-09-24 Chinadaily

It is now becoming a tradition that major legislation to protect the children’s health increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. But unfortunately nobody thinks that this legislation will not make smokers to quit.

For example, continued increases in taxes and duties on tobacco products in the United Kingdom has caused many people to import their cigarettes, rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco and cigars from inexpensive sources.

Although there are ongoing campaigns and increasing help and support for people to give up smoking, many callous smokers do not want to give up smoking. Today there are more options to stop smoking while slowly reducing the need or craving for the nicotine. Doctor’s can now prescribe patches, gums, and a number of alternate therapies to slowly reduce the dependence on the nicotine. It is still not an easy road but holds great potential for many. But as tobacco prices increase smokers are finding it more and more expensive to provide their habit.

Anti-tobacco researchers reported that many of smokers have stopped buying cigarettes and instead they now buy rolling tobacco and roll their own cigarettes. This has been profitable for the manufacturers of tobacco brands such as Golden Virginia, Amber Leaf and Cutters Choice, three of the most popular brands.

This has lead to more smokers revolving to foreign supplies for their shops. Most European countries sell the same brands as the United Kingdom, but at cheaper prices.

Many people are taking short voyages over to France, Belgium and Spain, to bring back their tobacco and cigarettes duty free, while many are using the services of internet websites that send goods directly to them.

In every city or town in the United Kingdom can be found people which sell cheaper cigarettes and tobacco in pubs and cafes.

All of these methods can bereave the United Kingdom economy of huge quantity of income, but this has not urged the British government to reduce the duties which would increase purchases from shops in Britain and perhaps increase occupation.

MICHIGAN – In her budget proposal, Governor Jennifer Granholm has proposed some new taxes.

A big part of the governor’s plan to bring in new revenue has to do with adding taxes to certain items, things many people buy, at least once in awhile.

A quarter here, six cents there, the governor is suggesting that some of what Michigan residents buy could be taxed to help the state make ends meet.

Among the proposed taxes are an entertainment tax, which would add a six percent sales tax on the tickets to sporting events, concerts, or a night at the theater.

Another proposal is a one cent tax on every bottle of water sold in Michigan. Time at the spa could see a six percent tax added to those services. Smokers would also see another increase, another 25 cents on every pack of cigarettes sold.

The increases have gotten mixed reviews from consumers, and many smokers are certainly saying enough is enough.

“Not more, it’s crazy,” said Cassandra Rank, who opposes an increased cigarette tax.

As far as entertainment and services taxes, a few people Newschannel 3 spoke to on Wednesday said they wouldn’t even notice.

“I don’t think six percent is too high of a percentage,” said Dena MacRitchie. “I don’t think at the end of the day it’s going to make a difference.”

“People who can afford those non-essential items should be able to afford the extra change,” said Amber Hamilton.

The proposed increases are not yet set in stone, and state lawmakers hope to have a budget in place by October 1st to avoid a government shutdown.


Copyright © September 09, 2009 Wwmt

A health advocacy organization wants the city to raise cigarette taxes in Juneau from 30 cents a pack to $1.

The excise tax could show up on the October ballot.

The request comes from the Juneau affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, which asked the Juneau Assembly Finance Committee to consider raising taxes on tobacco products as a prevention measure for teens.

Some 90 percent of people who end up smoking as adults start in their teenage years, Executive Director Matt Felix said.

“If you can target that group and prevent them from starting through higher prices – and research shows that does work – then taxation is the way to go to get the price up,” Felix said.

Juneau is behind the curve on taxing cigarette purchases, Felix said.

Anchorage charges $1.30 per pack, and Sitka, Barrow and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough each charge $1.

“All we’re asking is to tax this product at the rate other cities are, so people don’t try to buy from one city in bulk and transfer it to another city,” Felix said.

The organization also wants to raise the excise tax on products such as cigars, snuff and chew to 45 percent from 12 percent.

If consumption habits don’t change, tobacco tax revenues could triple if passed as proposed. The tax would generate $1.6 million for the city, compared to $515,490 last year, according to city Finance Director Craig Duncan.

The revenues are paid out in grants to health and social services agencies. NCADD-Juneau does not receive those funds, Felix said.

While Felix said the Assembly could pass the excise tax “from the bench,” or without putting it on the ballot, city Attorney John Hartle said he suspected elected officials would since they’ve gone to the voters in the past with requests to raise any kind of tax.

That didn’t worry Felix because tobacco taxes are usually supported by voters.

“The last time a tobacco tax was put on the ballot it passed 2-1, so I don’t have any fear that it won’t pass,” he said.

Juneau adopted its tobacco tax in 2003.

Percy’s Liquor Store owner Robert Rodman said the last tax increase on tobacco products – a tripling of taxes on roll-your-own tobacco products – caused a large decrease in sales at his downtown store.

The largest federal tobacco tax increase in history took effect in April, going from 39 cents a pack to $1.01. The state tax in Alaska is $2 per pack.

At $3.01 per pack, Alaskans pay among the highest taxes on cigarettes. The tax is higher in five states and equal to Alaska’s tax in seven others. The highest tax is in New York, at $3.76 per pack.

The finance committee, which is made up of the entire Assembly, is expected to discuss the city’s tobacco tax on July 29. The Assembly would have to approve an ordinance by Aug. 24 for a question to appear on the Oct. 7 ballot.

Felix made a pitch to the finance committee to raise the city’s tax on alcohol purchases, but elected officials did not appear interested in pursuing the matter.

Hartle advised the committee that the state limits the ability of municipalities to tax alcohol, and any increase in Juneau would likely be challenged in court and take years of litigation to resolve.

• Contact reporter Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.
Copyright © 2009 Juneauempire

A North Dakota advisory board’s plans for cutting tobacco use include more than quadrupling the state’s tax on cigarettes from 44 cents to $2 a pack.

The board also will be seeking a statewide ban on smoking in businesses and places where people gather. Smoking in bars and outdoor stadiums would be outlawed.

North Dakota voters approved the board’s formation last November. It is independent of the state Health Department, and it is financed by money from a state lawsuit settlement against tobacco companies.

Former Health Department tobacco prevention director Kathleen Mangskau is chairman of the board.

Mangskau says North Dakota is known as the “ashtray of the upper Midwest” because of its low cigarette tax. She says the tax is less than a third of the tobacco tax in Montana, Minnesota and South Dakota.

Copyright © 2009 Kxmb

When the federal tax on tobacco went up earlier this year, one man from Portage County decided “enough is enough”. He then decided to grown his own tobacco.

Don Carey says the decision was part protest and part economics.

He bought 33 variety of seeds to determine which ones grew the best in northeast Ohio.

His tobacco field was planted with the help of 15 volunteers.
The planting was the easy part.

Tobacco is a labor intensive crop that requires constant attention to keep pests from destroying it.

Carey, a pack a day smoker, needs about 17 pounds of tobacco a year for himself. The yield from his tobacco field could bring 200 pounds.

He says he’s willing to share his experience to help others. “Planning on selling plants and seeds and instruction manuals. I want to help anyone that wants to grow tobacco,” said Carey.

His daughter, a non-smoker, is helping her father because of the principle involved. “I think he’s doing a good thing showing people there are other options besides spending so much money,” said Lisa Carey.

At $5.56 a pack, smokers are spending about $120 per pound of tobacco.

It will take a big investment in time before Carey finds out if his plan worked out. It takes about a year to dry and cure the tobacco leaf.


Copyright © 2009 Wkyc

Tobacco retailers across the Sunshine State should expect a surprise visit from agents with the Florida Division of Alcohol, Beverages & Tobacco.

All week, agents have hit restaurants, convenience stores, even American Legion buildings.

They’re going inside, counting every newly taxed tobacco product in an effort to make sure retailers aren’t pocketing the state’s share of the new $1 tax.

“If we turn in that that location has 1,000 packs of cigarettes and they turn in that they have two, I think any auditor will look at that and question it,” said Special Agent Sandy Hillard.

We went along as agents made unannounced visits to two convenient stores on Fowler Avenue in Fort Myers Wednesday.

“Our numbers will never add up exactly because we’re in there counting while they’re making sales. So there’s always going to be a discrepancy, but it depends on the size of that discrepancy,” said Hillard.

While inside, agents also reminded retailers not to accept any tobacco product that doesn’t have a Florida stamp.

With the new tax, state agents are concerned about a new wave of smuggling from states where the tax on tobacco isn’t as high.

“If you start seeing someone coming in and trying to sell you cigarettes or cartons of cigarettes and boxes with a stamp from North Carolina or another state, you need to contact us,” Hillard said to one retailer during our visit.

Retailers will have until July 21st to send their paperwork to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.

If state auditors find a discrepancy, an investigation will be launched. Hillard says she expects more work to be done.

“The positive side of me says no, because I always want to think that people will report everything, but there’s always that possibility someone won’t,” she said.

The cost of purchasing a pack of cigarettes is expected to increase by 33 cents on Oct. 1.

The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee unanimously supported on Monday Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed per pack cigarette fee.

The fee, if ultimately approved by the full board next Tuesday, would go into effect Oct. 1 and generate $4.5 million for The City’s coffers.

Newsom proposed to fee to help out the city’s finances during one of its worst deficit years and to offset the cost incurred to clean up butts from sidewalks and streets.

The City spends more than $44 million each year picking up litter throughout San Francisco, and $10.7 million of that is for discarded cigarettes, according to the Mayor’s Office.


Copyright © 2009 Sfexaminer

State taxes on cigarettes will go up a dollar a pack on July 1. That will put even the generic brand cigarettes at more than $5 a pack. Health officials believe it will encourage people to quit smoking, and prevent others from starting. But, the primary factor in passing the tax was to raise revenue for the state budget. The extra tax will generate an estimated $900,000,000.

Some smokers say they don’t think the higher cost will help people quit smoking, but don’t mind paying more. Others say they’d like to see more of an effort to help people kick the habit.

Amberly Rogers says, “I think it would be good and beneficial for the community for them to do that, and I say that as a smoker. I wouldn’t mind paying that if it goes towards something that the kids can use in the future or now.”

Robin McGuire says, “Addiction is addiction and I think it’s just an awful thing, and it’s a shame that the medicine to get away from smoking costs more than the smoking itself.”

The state tax hike come on the heels of a 62-cents per pack federal tax increase and a price hike by the tobacco companies in April.

Copyright © 2009 Wjhg

Mississippi senators late Monday approved the state’s second cigarette tax increase of the year, and the proposal was being debated in the House.

The plan would add an excise tax of 25 cents a pack on cheaper cigarettes made by companies that did NOT participate in the state’s 1997 settlement of a massive lawsuit against big tobacco firms.

The large companies have lobbied for the additional tax on their competitors, saying the makers of cheap cigarettes have a financial advantage by NOT paying millions of dollars a year for the lawsuit settlement.

On May 15, Mississippi enacted its first cigarette excise tax increase since 1985, adding 50 cents a pack on all types of cigarettes. The rate went from 18 cents a pack to 68.

Top lawmakers said the tax of 25 cents on cheaper cigarettes would generate about $8.8 million a year. That’s a small portion of the overall $6 billion lawmakers are scrambling to approve before the state’s new fiscal year begins Wednesday.

But the threat of having to find $8.8 million of budget cuts pressured some lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Willie Simmons of Cleveland, into accepting the additional cigarette tax.

Copyright 2009 Wxvt

Saturday, China increased taxes on tobacco products that is expected to “moderately improve” financial revenue, according to the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation. China is credited to have the largest population of smokers in the world. In 2008, China had nearly 350 million smokers and estimates indicate about one million tobacco-related deaths each year.

Cigarettes cartons costing 70 yuan or more will now attract 56% tax from the 45% tax levied earlier. Tax on cigarette cartons costing less than 70 yuan will now be 36%, up from 30% charged earlier. Tax on cigars have been increased to 36% from 25% previously.

Tobacco products will also now attract ad-valorem tax of 5%, based on the real value, less inflation factors. This is the first time such a tax has been imposed on tobacco products in China.

© Rttnews

In case there was any lingering doubt, the Obama administration made clear Tuesday that it won’t be writing a big check to extricate California from its budget mess. It’s also unlikely, given the current political atmosphere, that the necessary supermajority of lawmakers will adopt a broad new tax. But small, targeted taxes can be part of a rational budget solution to help the state keep its safety net intact. Assembly Bill 89, by Democrat Tom Torlakson of Contra Costa County, offers one such rational revenue source by imposing a tax on tobacco products. The Legislature should pass it.

In a recession, new taxes are hard for taxpayers to absorb and can slow recovery by slowing consumption, but the economy also can be damaged by deep state cuts that eliminate basic services and drive thousands of Californians into more costly county safety net programs. Balance is the key. Lawmakers of any stripe should consider targeted taxes carefully and ask whether they’re an attempt to avoid responsible budgeting or part of a fair and constructive policy decision. AB 89 and its Senate counterpart, SB 600 by Democrat Alex Padilla of Los Angeles — endorsed Tuesday by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors — fall into the latter category.

At first glance, tobacco taxes may seem a bit too easy. Smokers are a convenient and unpopular class. But they’re more than a source of revenue; they’re a source of heavy costs to the state’s public health infrastructure. Making it harder for kids to buy cigarettes is a good thing and would be reason enough to raise tobacco taxes even in the best of budget years.

But the state also needs money, and if tobacco taxes discourage smoking, won’t they necessarily raise less money each year? Perhaps. That’s a good reason not to rely on them over the long term. But in the short term, a tax of $2.10 per pack of cigarettes (in addition to the current 87 cents) would generate almost $2 billion and obviate the need for the state to raid local government treasuries or eliminate cost-saving programs that provide health insurance to children.

There are alternatives, such as letting counties tax tobacco to pay for programs currently funded by the state. But such a move seems unlikely in the short term.

All Californians should pay for education and safety net services because those programs benefit more than just the direct recipients; they contribute to a state that is economically, as well as physically, healthy. But for the present, a broad tax is untenable, and crucial services are on the block. If the Legislature can save them with a tobacco tax and discourage smoking in the bargain, it should.
Copyright © 2009 Latimes

Vice-Speaker Benjamin J.F. Cruz introduced Bill No. 150 (COR) to increase the on-island tobacco tax.

“Guam is in the midst of a tobacco epidemic. At 31.1 percent, our island has the HIGHEST RATE of adult tobacco use among all the U.S. States and Territories. The reality is we are killing ourselves and a much needed tax increase to quell this near-pandemic is necessary,” asserted Cruz.

In Washington D.C. this past Friday, President Obama promised to sign legislation passed 307 to 97 in the House that gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. This action by the House is a quick follow up to the new federal tax rate increases from the State Health Insurance Program bill that went into effect April 1, 2009.

“Our current tax is $1.00 a pack. Considering the overwhelming scientific data showing numerous health related problems associated with tobacco usage, an increased tax on tobacco is definitely necessary to prevent people from smoking. According to the Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse, every day one person dies on Guam from tobacco use, 60 percent of Guam’s students are smokers, and 66 percent of Guam’s students are exposed to secondhand smoke,” said Cruz.

Bill No. 150 (COR) will increase the tobacco tax by 50 percent. The tax rate will now be $1.50 per pack of cigarettes instead of $1.00; the current rate for a tin of chewing tobacco is Twenty-Five cents ($0.25) with the new tax rate bringing it to $1.50. Residents will vote on the tax increase via referendum during the next General Election, held November 2, 2010, and will take effect 30 days after ratification by voters. All of the money from the increase in tobacco taxes will continue to go to the Healthy Futures Fund.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist long opposed to raising Mississippi’s cigarette tax, relented Wednesday in the face of slumping budget revenues and signed the state’s first increase in nearly a quarter century.

The state’s 18-cents-a-pack excise tax hadn’t changed since 1985. On Friday, it rises to 68 cents a pack.

Mississippi becomes the latest state to make smokers pay more to boost finances during a recession. Kentucky and Arkansas also enacted cigarette tax increases this year. In Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to sign a $1 increase.

Barbour signed the legislation as Mississippi struggles with an estimated revenue shortfall of $400 million for the year that ends June 30. The tax is estimated to generate more than $113 million for the year that begins July 1.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said the governor declined comment on the legislation.

The 50-cents-a-pack increase is enough to make smokers such as Pete Banks of Jackson give up his habit.

The short-order cook who has smoked for more than a decade said his pack of Salem cigarettes increased to $3.94 after the federal tobacco tax increased by 62 cents a pack in April. Now, he’s about to be hit with the state tax.

“I don’t need medicine to make me quit,” Banks said. “Paying that extra money is enough to make me quit.”

Banks’ response has been the goal of health advocates who’ve pushed for an increase for about six years.

“This cigarette tax is an overdue investment to lead to less smoking by our children and to a healthier state. We consider this a start,” said Roy Mitchell, chairman of the Mississippi Communities for a Clean Bill of Health. The statewide coalition of health organizations had lobbied for a $1 tax increase.

House Ways and Means Chairman Percy Watson, a Democrat from Hattiesburg who authored the bill, said he’s hopeful the state will consider another increase in a few years “as we assess the number of people in the population who are still smoking.”

The increasing cost to care for people with diseases caused by smoking has helped sell leaders on the idea of raising cigarette taxes, said political scientist Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.

“When Kentucky, where tobacco was a cash crop, raised the tax on cigarettes, that pretty well opens the door for anybody to do that,” Wiseman said.

However, Wiseman believes Barbour resisted the tax increase because he didn’t want to follow the path of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“Huckabee lacks favor with a lot of Republicans because, though he’s 100 percent Republican, he raised taxes several times in Arkansas,” Wiseman said. “I believe the eyes of the nation are on Barbour.”

In the 1990s, when Mississippi sued the nation’s tobacco industry to cover the costs of treating sick smokers, some manufacturers were Barbour’s clients. The litigation led to a $3.6 billion settlement for Mississippi in 1997.

Barbour became governor in January 2004. He vetoed two bills in 2006 that would’ve increased the cigarette tax and decreased the 7 percent grocery tax. In 2007, one of his Senate allies blocked consideration of a similar cigarette-grocery tax swap.

Barbour appointed a commission in 2008 to study the state’s tax structure. Based on recommendations from the group, Barbour asked lawmakers this year for an increase of 24 cents a pack for premium cigarettes and 43 cents a pack on less expensive cigarettes produced by companies that didn’t participate in the state’s 1997 settlement of a lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

After months of haggling, legislators agreed last week to increase the tax by 50 cents a pack on all brands of cigarettes.

Lawmakers said revenue from the tax would replenish a fund that helps lower the cost of car license tags and help pay for other state services, including Medicaid, a government-funded health plan for poor and disabled.

“Hallelujah,” said House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, noting Barbour long opposed any increase.

Other legislators are saying they only supported the proposal because of the millions needed for the state’s car tag fund.

“It’s a real big deal for me to vote for any tax increase,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl. “I have always voted against it. But this year, after looking at the surrounding states and seeing what they’ve done and also looking at what the car tag reduction fund has become, I felt like it was time for us to do something.”

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco lobbyist long opposed to raising Mississippi’s cigarette tax, has relented in the face of slumping budget revenues and signed the state’s first increase in nearly a quarter century.
Mississippi’s 18-cents-a-pack excise tax hadn’t changed since 1985 before Wednesday’s bill signing. On Friday, it goes up to 68 cents a pack.
Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said the governor declined to comment on the legislation.
The tax hike comes as Mississippi struggles with an estimated revenue shortfall of $400 million for the year that ends June 30. The cigarette tax is estimated to generate more than $113 million for the year that begins July 1.

Copyright © 2009 Wjtv

Cigarette sales took another hit in Oregon last year.

A report released on Monday by the Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program showed that cigarette sales have dropped to their lowest level ever, falling from nearly 55 to almost 50 packs per capita in the fiscal year ending June 2008.

“Over this last year, we’ve seen a decrease in consumption, so that’s exciting,” said Cathryn Cushing, spokeswoman for the state Public Health Division. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of folks who’ve quit smoking, and that’s exciting, too, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”

The report is encouraging on the home front, with 89 percent of households banning smoking, a 2 percent increase last year.

That slight uptick is important now that Oregon has banned smoking in most workplaces, including bars and restaurants, said Dr. Mel Kohn, director of public health in Oregon.

“Now that we have a Smokefree Workplace Law, the main place that people get exposed to secondhand smoke is at home,” he said. “I am encouraged by the fact that people realize that this is a hazard and are trying to avoid getting exposed and exposing their children.”

Oregon has tracked a dramatic drop in smoking among young people since 1996, but still every day 48 children in Oregon pick up their first cigarette, Kohn said.

“We know that there are various ways that the industry targets kids for promoting cigarette use because kids who start smoking have a much more difficult time stopping,” he said.

He said the decline in smoking among adults — which has dropped to 17 percent — should help further reduce youth smoking.

“Kids model the behavior that they see around them,” he said. “With them having less exposure to smoke in the environment — that’s all going to make it less attractive for kids to be smoking, but this is a constant kind of battle that has to be waged.”

The faltering economy has probably helped curb smoking, Kohn said. The federal cigarette tax also went up earlier this year.

The state has battled smoking through a prevention program that went into effect in 1996. Funding was sliced in half in fiscal year 2003. Sales of cigarettes continued to dip but then saw an increase from 2005 to 2007, when funding was restored.

Though many smokers have quit, the death rate has remained stubbornly flat, accounting for about 22 percent of the 30,000 Oregonians who die every year.

“The change in death rates does not go down as quickly as the change in smoking rates,” Cushing said. “A lot of the damage was done years ago. We’re going to see that percentage coming down over time.”

While smoking has dropped overall in Oregon, it went up on the north coast and in the south of the state.

“Tobacco use is very closely correlated with income and education level,” Cushing said. “Folks who have less money tend to smoke more. If they’re stressed and having trouble it’s hard to quit, but we know 80 percent of them would like to quit.”

The more who quit, the more Oregon will be like its neighbors. Although it has a lower rate than the national average of 19.8 percent, both California and Washington have fewer smokers in percentage terms, and only 11.7 percent in Utah smoke.

“I wish it was dropping faster than it is,” Kohn said. “It tells us that there’s more work left to do.”

Copyright © 2009 Oregonlive

North Dakota’s newly formed anti-tobacco committee wants a $2-a-pack state cigarette tax and a smoking ban in all public places, an early draft of its agenda shows.

The idea of raising North Dakota’s cigarette tax, which is now 44 cents a pack, has not come up in the 2009 Legislature. The tax has not changed since 1993.

Any state tobacco tax increase would come on top of a newly increased federal tobacco excise tax, which jumped this month from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack.

The committee’s work has been the recent focus of a money fight in the North Dakota House. Republican lawmakers argue the panel is unnecessary, even though voters endorsed a November ballot initiative to establish it. Measure 3 won approval from 54 percent of the voters last fall.

The committee, which is independent of the state Health Department, has been given the job of drafting a state tobacco control plan using recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week, the House defeated legislation that would have eliminated the nine-member committee’s responsibility for writing the anti-tobacco plan, and abolished a three-member executive committee that the measure put in charge of administering the final plan.

The bill included

$12.8 million to finance the committee’s work during the next two years. Lawmakers say there are several options for reviving the measure, including the possibility of packaging it with money for water projects.

Since Gov. John Hoeven appointed the panel in December, its members have been circulating proposals for a comprehensive North Dakota tobacco control plan.

The blueprint is in its infancy and none of its suggestions are final, said committee chairwoman Kathleen Mangskau, who is a former director of the state Health Department’s tobacco prevention and control division.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists raising the price of tobacco and a smoking ban in all public places among a list of effective ways to cut tobacco use.

“We can look to examples from other states where they have increased the excise tax, where they have 100 percent smoke-free environments, and their return on investment is dramatic,” Mangskau said. “That is exactly what we need to see in North Dakota.”

Bills to extend North Dakota’s ban on workplace smoking to bars have been defeated in the Legislature during its past two sessions, with tavern owners arguing that patrons and employees have the option of avoiding smoky rooms if they choose.

North Dakota’s current cigarette tax ranks 40th among the 50 states, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group. The Legislature has seen no major push to increase it since 2003, when lawmakers rejected Gov. John Hoeven’s proposal to raise the cigarette tax from 44 cents a pack to 79 cents.

Montana charges $1.70 a pack; South Dakota, $1.53; and Minnesota, $1.50. The median tax rate among states is $1.15 a pack.

Opponents of the new committee say it is not needed to push for a tobacco tax increase or an expanded smoking ban.

“We hear so much about the professionals, and how we have to turn this over to somebody that is going to come up with all of these new programs. You know what their No. 1 goal is? To raise cigarette tax to $2 a pack,” said Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby. “Well, if they had asked me, I would have put in the bill for them. That’s not rocket science.”

Mangskau said the independent committee will help “depoliticize some of these policy efforts,” and can help organize public coalitions to support its goals.

“Sometime when you have strong messaging directed at public health, not all people always like to hear that,” Mangskau said. “But we know it is effective.”

The North Dakota draft plan includes advocating tobacco-free policies in public schools, which would ban all tobacco use in school buildings and grounds, buses and all school-sponsored events, whether on- or off-campus.

The Board of Higher Education, which recently turned down a request for a tobacco-free policy at all North Dakota’s 11 public campuses, would be asked to reconsider. In the meantime, individual campuses would be asked to ban all tobacco use anywhere on their grounds.

Insurers would be asked to help finance the cost of operating the North Dakota Tobacco Quitline, which offers a free month’s supply of nicotine patches, gum or lozenges to anyone whose insurance does not cover the cost of stop-smoking aids.