Kerry DoughertyAny minute now the sounds of sanctimony will ring out over the commonwealth.
Non smokers will rejoice at the latest glad tidings from Richmond. Looks like Virginia's battered budget - headed for a $2.9 billion biennial shortfall - will be rescued, in part, by smokers.
Frankly, is there a segment of society more despised than those who are hopelessly addicted to nicotine? They stand outside in the cold and rain like lepers, furtively indulging in their shameful habits. Non smokers walk by, cough and sneer at their weakness.
Yes, by all means. Tax them, not us!
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has announced that the commonwealth will attempt to cope with the cratering economy by slashing jobs, aid to education and health services.
Beyond that, he wants to double the state cigarette tax to 60 cents per pack from 30.
It won't affect me, and chances are it won't affect you, either.
Still, in the interest of honestly, someone ought to point out that if he gets his way, the governor will be slapping a fat tax on those who can least afford it:
The uneducated and addicted poor.
Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. According to one tobacco table, only about 21 percent of Americans smoke these days. That's way down from 1965, when smoking was glamorous and about 42 percent of American adults were lighting up.
Today smokers are not spread evenly throughout society. For instance, more men than women smoke - 24 percent to 18 percent. And more black men than white men - almost 27 percent to 24 percent - light up.
Education makes a difference, too.
Those with advanced degrees are among the least likely to light up. Only 6.9 percent of them smoke. Conversely, Americans with just a GED have a staggeringly high rate of smoking: about 47.5 percent.
Poverty also is tied to tobacco. Ironically, even though smoking is a pricey habit, those below the poverty level smoke at a rate of about 34.3 percent.
Back to the proposed tax increase, which shows signs of a quick death in the General Assembly.
The most cynical part of Kaine's proposal is that it appears to be high enough to generate about $150 million a year but probably not steep enough to cause people to kick the habit in great numbers.
The Pilot reports that the American Cancer Society is cool to Kaine's tobacco tax proposal. Apparently the levy would need to be quadrupled to cause a dramatic cessation in smoking.
Still, on Wednesday, Kaine reassured the public that this would be a gentle tax increase.
He said it "need not stretch Virginia families as it is targeted to a specific, non essential product. And it may, in fact, reduce our health care costs by encouraging some smokers to quit. That, in and of itself, would be a very good thing."
Careful what you wish for, governor. If Virginia is about to amp up its dependence on tobacco taxes, it simply cannot afford to have large numbers of folks kicking the habit.
Think about it.
If the 30-cent-per-pack tax increase suddenly caused smokers to go cold turkey, the governor would have to quickly nail a tax on some other group of Virginians.
And it would be darn hard to find a bunch more unpopular than smokers.
Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net
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road trip
thats fine! he won't get my extra tax money! I'll take a 30 minute road trip to NC where they're already cheaper as it is!
Tax the Rich
Why tax the poor. They work hard enough and have less. Lets tax high dollar luxuries. Oh I forgot they are the ones who give the politicians the campaign money. This I find extremely unfair...Money equals the agenda.
Protecting us from ourselves and poverty, tobacco, obesity...
So tobacco use and poverty have a strong correlation, that doesn't surprise me to hear that. There is also plenty of literature that links gambling and poverty. Call it taxation or call it what you want, but a lot of gambling money goes to "the man." Sometimes I cynically think that is makes up for our income tax structure. (And I'm not getting into whether that is fair or not!)
As for an obesity tax, I don't know if fat people are richer or poorer on average than the rest of the population. Oops, I mean BMI challenged.
attack all not one
after reading more of the comments on this subject I see everyone goingafter eating disorders and smokers. Open your eyes and see the alcoholic beverages. The police can only do something when they catch the offenders. Where does this money go not the state budget. let me explain more: when have you seen a smokers check point put out by the police? you do not see them and you do see them for drinking and driving. Yes smoking kills those of us who do smoke. Can anyone say that about the drunk driving accidents that takes the life of a child or a mother or father coming home from work? Lets hit your heart How would you enjoy a law enforcement officer coming to your house and tell your family you are not coming home due to a drunk driver running thru a red light costing you your life? Turn the table and you answer the door to hear your kids and the friend they rode with was in a deadly accident because they went to a party and the driver had to show off they can drive and drink and end up costing your your child you watched grow til this day came?
tell me why they should ignore taxing the alcoholic beverage more then it is.
attack other side of the table
stop attacking smokers! I do know it is a bad habit and I do smoke. Please continue to read our insurance companies will not help pay for smokers to try quitting and our government will not allow a company in canada to ship a drug for smokers to quit because this drug works better then hidden drug. Now if the governing body of virginia wants to really tax something then I say attack the drunks driving on our raods. Drinking and driving can cost you or someone you know or love to be in an accident with injuries or worse. Why not attack them I know our employers and insurance companies have no problem blowing money to help them with thier addictions or is it fine to allow someone to drive after drinking at parties or pubs and take someones life because they think they are not drunk..
tax alcoholic beverages make the tax attack fair for all not just one group!
Mr. Campbell
If you wish to have facts, I suggest you find them elsewhere as you will find NO FACTS at the tobaccofreekids website. That is the same group that has secretly been dealing with Philip Morris to get FDA control over tobacco products. Such control, as currently proposed, will benefit PM and CTFK and not public health as CTFK insists.
The shenanigans of the tobacco industry were reined in years ago by the tobacco control groups, but now many of the tobacco control groups have adopted that for which they faulted big tobacco.
Actually, Big Bad Wolf...
There are warning labels on alcoholic beverages and in some places in this country, there has been an attempt to ban trans fats because of the threat to our health. You are right, they are not the SAME thing, but they are part of the slippery slope of "protecting" us from ourselves. Less and less people smoke every year, but more and more people are suffering from obesity. If we are TRULY interested in doing this for the well-being of our society, then we must consider ALL of our vices as potential items to "ban", right? We are so concerned about telling people what's good for them when often times, they already know. We ALL know smoking is bad for us, just like we know that eating McDonalds is bad for us. We know that wearing our seatbelt is smart, yet some of us don't, and we aren't going to wear it because you tell us to. We have the freedom to be idiots. I have never smoked, but who am I to stop you by law or by twisting your arm with taxes? I think folks who are fat are idiots for continuing to pack in the cheeseburgers and fries, but to each his own. My only problem is when I have to pay for their irresponsibility through socialized medicine.
Well David and Wolf...
Obesity costs the United States $117 billion annually. $61 billion in direct costs and $56 billion in indirect costs. Obesity costs the state of Virginia $374 million (slightly less than smoking according to Dave)or 13.1% of Medicaid dollars annually. Obese people cost 36% more for health services and 77% more for pharmaceuticals. There is no tax for being obese but obese people sure suck up the tax dollars. Please tell me again how obese people do not affect you or me?
I Disagree
It's not the lack of education that brings folks with GED'd the cigarette counter. More likely it's a habit of making poor choices.
Taxing cigarettes is
Taxing cigarettes is absolutely not the same as taxing unhealthy foods. It's a ridiculous comparison. Show me a normal food that has a warning label stating that it will most likely kill you over the course of your lifetime. Additionally, even the worse food can be shown to have some form, no matter how slight, of nutritional content. That cannot be said for cigarettes. I've read a lot of people on this site criticize politicians for selling out to special interests, yet nobody seems to be applauding Gov. Kaine for making the politically dangerous move for his party to take on one of VA's largest employers and special interests. So much for people actually wanting politicians out of corporation’s pockets. Guess that only applies selectively.
more hypocrisy from richmond
"Cigarette smoking costs Virginia $400 million a year in state Medicaid expenses alone."
End the smoking and you end the smoking related expenses. But our state and local elected representatives don't have the guts to propose a total ban on smoking. Either tobacco isn't the health issue that they make it out to be or the commonwealth is willing to sacrifice public health for tax revenue. You decide.
Tax the twinkies!!!
Tax the fat people!!! Impound the twinkies!
If you think smokers have cost society big bucks wait until all these over weight children drain us all dry. Don't tell me your fat doesn't affect me. When society has to throw more and more tax dollars at childhood obesity, adult on-set diabetes and all the heart, circulation, blindness, and amputations that will follow tell me how this doesn't affect me.
Costs
Cigarette smoking costs Virginia $400 million a year in state Medicaid expenses alone. The state’s current 30-cents-a-pack tax generates $167 million in state revenue. Even if we double the tax, it still won’t even cover the state's expenses. Smoking costs everybody else in the state even more in increased health insurance premiums.
The facts
have never changed your opinions before, but read this:
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0227.pdf
It figures
Our Governor is sneaking a play right out of the former mayor Ward of Chesapeake play book. Can anyone else remember Wards secret plan to pay for the new Cedar road by raising cigarette taxes 50 cents a pack, thereby placing the entire burden of building a road needed by so many on the very small percentage of population published above? These "leaders" don't know the meaning of honest, representative government.