Sure. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. But those who do need to pay the true cost of their cigarette habit, and it’s in the billions of dollars.
Voters are being asked to impose a hefty hike in state taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Amendment 72 calls for imposing a new tax of $1.75 on each pack of cigarettes, pushing the price to about $6 a pack. In addition, other tobacco products, such as cigars and chew, would be assessed a new tax of 22 percent.
That’s a big increase to an already pricey habit, but it’s for a good reason.
A 2014 study by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reveals that for every $10 spent on healthcare in the United States, about $1 of that is attributable to the health affects of smoking.
It means that American taxpayers must pay hundreds of millions of dollars for increased Medicare and Medicaid costs due to the smoking habit of patients. That doesn’t even begin to touch the increased costs of health insurance that Americans have to bear because of the cost of treating diseases attributed to smoking.
Amendment 72 gets it right in assessing this tax to help offset the true cost burden of smokers. The new tax would raise about $300 million a year, and almost all of it must go toward public health causes and programs.
We understand that the amendment calls for a massive tax hike, and that a large proportion of smokers are low-income residents. It means they’re hit especially hard by the new tax.
But studies have consistently shown that as the price of cigarettes increases, smoking decreases. Many people wanting to quit are compelled to succeed in cessation when the price gets higher, saving them money, and the rest of as well.
Even if they don’t quit, studies have shown in the past that when costs substantively increase, smokers reduce the number of cigarettes they consume. Quitting is best. Cutting back helps.
It’s a tax that we would gladly see diminish if collections receded because fewer people smoke.
While often seen as an individual choice, and taxes like this a stab at personal liberty, the levies are actually a way to equalize the true cost of smoking by putting more of the burden back on the smoker.
Since there are many free smoking cessation programs, and part of the tax money collected here is earmarked toward that cause, it makes sense all around to vote yes on Amendment 72.