Posted on 02/19/2003 7:23:11 PM PST by new cruelty
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said on Wednesday he was considering the possibility of raising the federal cigarette tax to $2 a pack -- from the current 39 cents -- as recommended by an advisory committee.
Last week, the HHS' Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health approved a plan for the steep increase in the tax. Half the money raised would be allocated for initiatives to help people stop smoking.
Anti-tobacco campaigners immediately welcomed the decision and pressured the government to accept.
"We urge the administration and Congress to act quickly and aggressively to implement this plan," William Carr, executive vice president at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement.
"If they do so, it would represent an unprecedented national commitment to address the leading preventable cause of death and disease in our country. The committee estimates its plan would prevent three million premature deaths and help five million smokers to quit."
Health experts say smoking is the biggest single cause of preventable death, killing 400,000 people every year from heart disease and cancer.
Thompson said Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who chaired the committee, was coming up with a recommendation for him.
"I haven't made a decision on the tax but I like the concept of a fund," Thompson told reporters. "I think the general premise of setting up some sort of fund to give dollars back to people who want to quit smoking is good."
Thompson said 70 percent of smokers wanted to quit but could not get the support, including drugs, to do so.
He said he raised cigarette taxes while governor of Wisconsin, but added the issue of a tax was problematic politically.
Several studies have shown that raising the price of cigarettes can deter smokers, especially teen-agers.
In 1998, states reached a settlement with tobacco companies in which they received $246 billion over 25 years to pay for the costs of smoking-related illnesses.
Anti-smoking campaigners say states have recently been raiding those and other tobacco-prevention funds to cover budget deficits.
On Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested eliminating the state's youth tobacco prevention fund, using the cash to cover the state's budget deficit.
Anti-smoking campaigners say states have recently been raiding those and other tobacco-prevention funds to cover budget deficits.
I guess the money that was extracted from the evil tobacco companies wasn't enough. I also figure that none of these people have ever heard of a black market. Additionaly, sin taxes are one of the most regressive taxes there are. Add $16 to the price of a carton and a lot of smokers will get pretty irate. At this rate crack will be cheaper in New York than cigarettes.
Yet, tobacco communities in North Carolina are facing a number of challenges that will forever change tobacco's place in the state's economic and social landscape. Among these challenges are several multi-billion-dollar lawsuits either decided or pending against the tobacco industry - in particular, the $206 billion settlement signed in November 1998 between the cigarette manufacturers and the states' attorneys general.
Along with the lawsuits have come additional federal cutbacks in tobacco allotments (the right to grow tobacco), a decline in cigarette exports, an increase in federal and state cigarette excise taxes, and an increasingly tough regulatory environment. Added to this situation are closures and layoffs at cigarette plants, warehouses, and stemming and redrying facilities.
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Progress to Date
Step I. In the wake of the 1998 settlement and other tobacco-related factors such as Hurricane Floyd's destruction of tobacco fields, the Rural Center study found that the state's tobacco communities could face the following economic impacts over the next three to five years:
A decline in cigarette production of nine to 17 percent
Tobacco production declines of five to 10 percent
A reduction in tobacco quota owner income of one to 2.4 percent
Total direct and indirect economic impacts to the state including:
Lost output (sales) of $2.2 to $4 billion annually (0.6 to 1.1 percent of the state total)
A permanent loss of between 14,500 and 26,700 jobs (0.3 to 0.6 percent of the state total)
Lost annual earnings between $403 and $743 million (0.3 to 0.6 percent of the state total)
Tobacco-Dependent Communities Research Initiative
I think several people need to see EXACTLY what this is doing to North Carolinians. Another 26,000 jobs down the drain, lost earnings of three quarters of a billlion dollars, 4 billion dollars lost in sales a year, yet I imagine they'll be expected to keep up the tribute money to the Empire. Not a d#mn one of them cares about the South or any Southern state. Thanks George Bush, Tommy Thompson, and Giddy Dolt. Thanks for ruining our economic recovery if this bill passes (which it will). Would you just come down here and pour salt over all our land? It'd be a d#mn sight faster and we could just get on with our menial agricultural lives. Oh yeah, but France is the enemy now I forgot. The Empire can destroy the lives of ten of thousands of hard working citizens of the state of North Carolina, but yeah, France is the enemy.
I'm sorry gentlemen for my forcefulness against this administration, the national government as a whole. I am about at the point of tears knowing what this will do to my state, my home.
$14.95 a carton for fresh marlboro lights. Add $2.00 for optional priority shipping. Arrives in about a week. This is not a solicitation, just my personal experience. I don't smoke that much, but I cannot and will not pay $5 for a pack, even if it lasts me a week.
It gives me a happy feeling all over when the package arrives from Switzerland, knowing that I have paid a fair price for the smokes, and didn't get gouged by the tax man.
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