Tobacco tax hike would fund health programs
January 31st, 2008, 2:11 am Hobbies Ideas
Utah’s current 70-cents-per-pack cigarette tax should be increased by more than 70 percent, with the $25 million or so increase in funds going to various health-improvement programs, including cancer screening and smoking cessation programs, a Utah legislator says.
Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, introduced a bill Wednesday that would hike the current 69.5-cent-per-20-cigarette pack by an additional 50 cents. That’s a 72 percent increase and would raise an extra $25 million to $29 million annually.
“A tax increase is never popular, and viewed as unnecessary in a revenue surplus year and impossible to get passed in an election year,” Ray said. “This is a public health issue that will go on no matter the revenue picture or the political season.”
Two facts are dictating the timing, he said: The higher the price of a pack of cigarettes, the more smokers choose to quit; the state ends up dealing with the effects of smoking down the road anyway through increased health problems of people who don’t stop smoking.
“So it’s a sooner-the-better situation,” Ray said, adding that he doesn’t have a read on whether his fellow lawmakers view it that way.
“But when I do start talking to them, I’ll be able to add the results of a poll coming out next week from the state Department of Health showing that 81 percent of Utahns surveyed would favor it,” he said. He said he didn’t know how many smokers were included in the survey.
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Ray has other support, including the local Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids, which in December called for an increase in the state tobacco tax to help keep kids from starting to smoke.
“The Huntsman Cancer Center will also come out strongly in favor of my bill,” Ray said Wednesday.
The state’s tobacco tax has not been increased since 1999, when it went from 49.5 cents per pack to 69.5 cents. Still, Ray said he knows HB355 will be a hard sell. For even with an anti-smoking bias in the state, Ray’s tobacco tax hike faces stiff opposition.
Lisa Roskelley, spokeswoman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., said the governor didn’t put any tax cuts or tax hikes in his 2008-2009 recommended budget. “So we are not for this or any other tax increase this year,” she said.
House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said that while he understands the reasons behinds Ray’s bill, “I’m not personally inclined to increase any taxes this year” as the state once again faces hundreds of millions of dollars in one-time and ongoing tax surpluses. House Republicans have already called for a $100 million tax cut this session.
“This is really a health-care issue,” said Ray. He’d earmark the money to the state Health Department for two main programs expanding a current cancer screening operation that funds scans for 4,000 women and 1,000 men, and extending the current Gold Medal School program from elementary schools into middle and high schools. The Gold Medal program works at several levels as an anti-obesity/good health system for kids, he said.
“Utah has one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the nation,” Ray added. A recent tax study ranked Utah 30th in its tobacco tax rate.
“I’d love to drop the tobacco tax take to zero have no one smoking. This is a user’s fee, because smokers are costing the state a lot of money” in health-care costs, Ray said. As a $29 million tax take, Ray said his bill would also provide extra money to help with general health-care insurance reform, a major goal this session for Huntsman and legislators alike.
But in rounding up votes, Ray also stands before a stubborn pro-tobacco lobby. Former Senate president, now lobbyist, Cap Ferry has Altria the old Philip Morris firm as a client.
“We don’t have a position yet on (Ray’s) bill. I just got it last night and sent it on” to company headquarters, Ferry said. But in years past, the tobacco industry has opposed new cigarette taxes in Utah, he added.
In addition, tobacco firms have over the years been constant contributors to many legislators’ re-election campaigns. A Deseret Morning News’ analysis of campaign reports shows that in 2007, when lawmakers had no races, tobacco firms gave $11,800. And in 2006, when most legislators did have races, tobacco firms gave a combined $36,650 to a number of lawmakers although some legislators still decline to take tobacco money. Twenty-four legislators took Altria contributions last year, the newspaper found.
In addition to funding other programs, Ray’s bill specifically allocates $500,000 to smoking cessation programs and for a public media campaign aimed at preventing and stopping teen smoking. Currently, only those 19 years or older can legally smoke in Utah. And smoking is banned in all public places, including restaurants and bars.
Mainly because of the large numbers of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah (LDS members abstain from smoking), Utah has one of the lowest tobacco usage rates in the United States. Still, more than 170,000 adults and 20,000 youths smoke in the state and more than 1,100 deaths were attributed to smoking last year.
In addition to the tobacco tax, each year Utah gets between $30 million and $35 million from a nationwide tobacco settlement agreement with major tobacco companies.
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