Cigarette Tax Just Makes Sense
Conservatives can rant and rave all they want, but renewing a 4-cent-perpack tax on cigarettes is a no-brainer. Two-thirds of the members of the House agreed Tuesday when they voted 70-30 to keep the tax on the books.
Rep. Hollis Downs, R-Ruston, told his colleagues eight of 10 Louisianians polled on the issue had no problem with a 70-cent-per-pack increase that couldn’t get out of committee. So you can figure out for yourself how they might feel about renewing an insignificant 4-cent cigarette tax.
No, a 4-cent tax probably won’t discourage anyone from smoking. But failing to renew a cigarette tax sends a horrible message about Louisiana to the rest of the country.
Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, is sponsor of both cigarette tax increase bills.
He is a smoker who pleaded with health care experts during a committee hearing to give him some advice about how he can quit what he calls a terrible addiction he can’t shake.
Ritchie admitted Tuesday that he is already having to deal with personal health care issues.
The best argument Ritchie made when the House voted for the 4-cent tax was how damaging it would be to the state’s image to lower a cigarette tax when most other states are headed in the opposite direction.
Governor is roadblock
Renewing this 4-cent tax would have been a breeze were it not for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s completely irrational opposition and his pledge to veto the tax renewal if it reaches his desk.
The governor has been extremely image conscious since he first took office in 2008. He is still bragging about how much ethics reform has done for the state’s image, even though the effects of that reform are questionable at best.
A spokesperson for the governor admitted in committee that there is a health-care issue associated with tobacco use, but said taxing consumption is not the solution.
Tell that to smokers in New York state who are paying a tax of $4.35 per pack and the thousands in that state who have quit smoking because of the cost.
Louisiana has the nation’s second-lowest tax of 36 cents. Virginia is lower at 30 cents per pack.
Mississippi recently raised its tax to 68 cents per pack. Its governor, Haley Barbour, is a former tobacco lobbyist and he signed the increase bill.
The tax in Texas is $1.41 per pack. It is $1.03 in Oklahoma.
New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island are thinking about reducing their cigarette taxes, but their taxes per pack are $1.78, $2.70 and $3.46, respectively.
Why are they considering modest decreases of 10 cents, 30 cents and $1? Supporters of the reductions said they want to draw smokers from other states in order to increase revenues, according to the Huffington Post.
Obviously, revenues mean more to those states than the harmful effects of smoking.
Colleen Lemoine is an oncology nurse in New Orleans. She got to the bottom line when Ritchie abandoned his 70-cent increase bill. No amount of cigarette smoke is healthy, she said.
“I’m tired of taking care of people who die,” she told the House Ways and Means Committee.
My family realizes now how damaging smoking can be, but the news came too late to save my father and three siblings.
I was a longtime smoker until I quit in 1980. It wasn’t easy. I had tried a half-dozen times. However, it became easier as I watched my dad struggle to cope with his emphysema. His congestive heart failure finally killed him in his mid-70s.
Smoking was a contributing factor in the deaths of my father, two of my brothers and my only sister. My youngest brother, the only one I have left, never smoked.
My children don’t smoke, and I feel guilty every time I think about the allergies my son has had to deal with during much of his life and the discomfort I caused my daughter through her early years.
We didn’t understand the long-term problems smoking might cause in those days, but that is really no excuse. My youngest brother took the wiser course.
Use common sense
If Jindal wants to oppose new taxes, that’s fine. Most taxpayers agree with his stance. However, it should be done with some semblance of common sense.
Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, said, “Nobody is asking us to take this off the books.”
Cigarette makers, smokers and retailers fought the 70-cent increase, but there has been no big push on their part to do away with the 4-cent tax.
Would they be happy to see it disappear? Sure, but smokers are already paying it and can afford it.
Ritchie wants to use the $12 million in annual revenues from the tax for health care. That would grow to something between $40 million and $50 million with the federal matching dollars it would draw.
How can the governor fight that kind of return on a measly 4-cent cigarette tax?
Let smokers pay part of the costs associated with their habit. The rest of us will be paying for most of the health care they will definitely need in the future and which they won’t be able to afford.
Gov. Jindal is a reasonable man, but he is being extremely unreasonable with his indefensible stand on this 4-cent cigarette tax renewal.
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the Lake Charles American Press, has covered people and politics for more than five decades. Contact him at 494-4025 or jbeam@americanpress.com.
[...] today, Jim Beam posted a story on the vote yesterday to renew a four-cent tax on cigarettes in Louisiana sponsored by Rep. Harold [...]
There are already enough taxes on tobacco. How about going after foods that cause obesity, hypertension or clogs your arteries? Those issues impact healthcare costs much more than COPD or lung cancer. Of course you would not like that because it takes money out of your pocket as well as the smoking scapegoats huh?
How about we stop taxing and spending like there’s no tomorrow?
Agreed!!!
Let’s try this. Let people live the way they want but if they want to smoke, they pay for their own treatments or go without. If they want to eat till they can’t walk, they pay for their own scooter or go without. Thomas Jefferson had it right. “But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” The same should go for people’s freedoms.
The Liberal ideology of healthcare and comfort being a human right no matter what the individual’s lifestyle is only used to give government more control over all of us.
I’m just glad that the tax I pay on my alcohol ain’t being raised. Them poor suckers that smoke can evidently afford that 4 cents cause their already paying it and still buying cigs/cigars. But again, everybody talks about all the health risk and health problems that come from smoking, even second hand smoking. I’m really glad that drinking alcohol don’t have all those harmful effects. Man, I don’t know what I’d do if I had to pay an extra dollar or two for a cold six-pack or 4/5 dollars for a case or 5/8 dollars for my liquor or 3/4 dollars for my wine. Wow!!! that would be just plain mean and wrong to tax me for liking my ‘adult beverages’.
Now as for the Nurse whose father died in his 70′s. I’m sorry for her and her/families loss. My dad also died when he was 73 so I can understand. I just wonder how many other people have died in their 70′s and it wasn’t because of smoking? Matter of fact, a girl I worked with for 20 years passed away the other day, she was 62. Never smoked a day in her life nor drank. But the cancer she had didn’t know it supposed to be accompanied by smoking. And it has to be smoking as the cause, cause we’re all told that’s what smoking does.
I get so sick and tired of all this crap about what smoking does to ones health when there are other things just as bad but they’re OK. You don’t see anyone posing taxes on those items ‘because of health issues’.
And as for this tax being used for ‘medical treatment’, how do I know that is what it’s being used for. Is it set aside in a special pocket and only applied to people with ‘smoking’ diseases? No, it’s put in a pocket and goes where it’s needed. Oh yes, we need to remodel the Governor’s Mansion, etc, etc.
How ’bout taxes on your vehicle cause it’s a dark color that absorbs to much heat and causes you to waste more gas by using your A/C?
How ’bout taxes on people with multiple floors in their houses cause they might fall down the stairs and break their back and become paralyzed for the rest of their life, which cost a lot of medical money.
How ’bout taxes on the number of square feet of grass you cut, cause those fumes from your lawnmower/tractor cause lung disease, more medical cost.
How ’bout taxes on your landscaping cause the pollen from the plants cause lung diseases and allergies.
How ’bout more taxes on your big house cause it causes a lot of pollution to make all that extra energy you’re using.
How ’bout a tax on the tires on big trucks, an additional tax than just the sales tax when they’re bought, cause they fall apart on the roads and can cause accidents that may mean more medical money.
And this list of STUPID taxes can go on to eternity but they make as much sense as the cigarette tax. So NO the “ Cigarette Tax Just Makes Sense” does not make sense. But yet every penny taken in by the government would be spent on other things and they’d still need MORE money.
And btw, I’m against ALL taxes whether new or re-newed when it’s STUPID taxes like this. I’m for taxes that are used to provide for the operation of our Government, the reason tax was imposed.
Scott I’m sorry about the length of this post but I appreciate you letting me rant. As you can see I don’t like taxes
.
PS. And for all the alcohol drinkers I’m sure you’ll enjoy knowing some of your medical bills are being paid from the smoker’s taxes cause you are going to get diseases related to your alcohol, check this out:
What is alcohol-induced liver disease?Alcohol-induced liver disease, as the name implies, is caused by excessive consumption of alcohol and is a common, but preventable, disease.There are three primary types of alcohol-induced liver disease, including the following:fatty liverFatty liver is excessive accumulation of fat inside the liver cells. Fatty liver is the most common alcohol-induced liver disorder. The liver is enlarged, causing upper abdominal discomfort on the right side.
alcoholic hepatitisAlcoholic hepatitis is an acute inflammation of the liver, accompanied by the destruction of individual liver cells and scarring. Symptoms may include fever, jaundice, an increased white blood cell count, an enlarged, tender liver, and spider-like veins in the skin.
alcoholic cirrhosisAlcoholic cirrhosis is the destruction of normal liver tissue, leaving non-functioning scar tissue. Symptoms may include those of alcoholic hepatitis, in addition to portal hypertension, enlarged spleen, ascites, kidney failure, confusion, or liver cancer.What are the symptoms of alcohol-induced liver disease?Symptoms of alcohol-induced liver disease depend on how much and how long a person has been drinking alcohol. The following are the most common symptoms of alcohol-induced liver disease. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:enlarged liver
fever
jaundice – yellowing of the skin and eyes.
increased white blood cell count
spider-like veins in the skin
portal hypertension
enlarged spleen
ascites – fluid build-up in the abdominal cavity.
kidney failure
confusionThe symptoms of alcohol-induced liver disease may resemble other medical conditions or problems.http://www.umm.edu/liver/alcohol.htm
“Cigarette Tax Just Makes Sense” sure it does and I have 101 reasons we should re-elect Barack Obama for President.