News
Higher tax on cigarettes, tobacco will save lives
Friday, January 25, 2013
Grand Island Independent
State Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island is keeping up the good fight against cancer, lung disease and other health problems caused by smoking and tobacco use.
Two years ago, he proposed tripling the tax on a pack of cigarettes. That proposal fell flat, running up against the governor’s and other opposition to any tax increase.
Well, Gloor is back with another tobacco tax hike, this one scaled back to a 72 cents per pack increase. His bill, LB439, would increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 64 cents a pack up to $1.36 cents a pack.
Gloor’s philosophy is that by raising the tax on tobacco and increasing the cost of tobacco products, fewer people will be able to afford to smoke and the number of smoking-related illnesses will drop.
In the long run, this will save the state having to pay for treatment of smoking-related illnesses. State figures say annual health care expenditures in Nebraska directly caused by tobacco use total $537 million. Treating conditions caused by smoking costs the state Medicaid program $134 million a year.
Gloor’s bill, co-introduced by Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, includes the finding that Nebraskans pay $9.64 cents to subsidize health care costs caused by smoking for each $5 pack of cigarettes sold in the state.
But mostly importantly, a cigarette tax increase will help save lives. The fewer people who smoke or ever begin smoking, the fewer people who will have to deal with lung cancer, emphysema and other illnesses.
Studies by anti-smoking groups show that a 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by 7 percent and overall smoking by 4 percent.
So in addition to bringing in an estimated $66 million in new tax revenue, increasing the tobacco tax will save the state in having to pay so much for health care related to smoking because fewer people will be smoking because of the higher cost of cigarettes.
It all makes good sense, and Gloor is right to be persistent in the battle against smoking and its consequences. As the former administrator of St. Francis Medical Center, Gloor is well aware of the costs of smoking, in both lives and financial costs.
Gloor’s bill also is an acknowledgement that Nebraska’s cigarette tax has lagged behind those in other states. A Legislative Research Office report said Nebraska’s 64-cent per pack cigarette tax ranked 38th among the 50 states. The report said New York claimed the top spot with a levy of $4.35 per pack and Missouri’s rate of 17 cents per pack is the lowest.
Among Nebraska’s neighbors, the report said only Missouri and Wyoming (60 cents per pack) have lower cigarette tax rates. Kansas (79 cents), Colorado (84 cents), Iowa ($1.36) and South Dakota ($1.53) impose higher rates.
While the proposal is sure to face opposition, the Legislature needs to seriously consider raising the tobacco tax for no other reason than to save lives.
