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News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA) via NewsEdge :

Jan. 29–State Sen. Rodney Tom says he wants to make cigarettes so expensive that teenagers can’t afford to buy them.

That’s why the Medina Democrat is proposing a $1-a-pack increase in the state cigarette tax. That would make Washington’s state cigarette tax $3.025 a pack, perhaps highest in the nation. A pack has 20 cigarettes.

Overall, his proposal would raise an estimated $95 million a year, money that would be earmarked mostly for smoking prevention and state-subsidized health care programs. But that’s not the point, he said.

“It’s not about revenue; it’s about health care savings,” Tom, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5626, said Wednesday. More and more of the state budget is being spent on health care and treatment for smoking-related illnesses, leaving less money for public schools, he said. Tobacco-related medical costs in Washington are about $1.5 billion a year, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

“If we’re going to get costs under control, we have to do something about obesity and smoking,” Tom said. “Education programs are getting killed because health care costs are eating up so much money.”

Congress also is considering boosting the current 39-cent-per-pack federal cigarette tax to $1.

Combined, those taxes would drive up the price for a pack of smokes to close to $8 for brand-name cigarettes such as Marlboro.

That’s what Tom wants.

“Smoking is very price-sensitive, especially for teenagers,” he said.

The state increase would take effect Aug. 1.

Bill Phelps, spokesman for the parent company of the makers of Marlboro, said lawmakers don’t realize the other impacts when they raise cigarette taxes.

“People think a tax like this just affects smokers,” Phelps said. “It really can hurt retailers. If you walk into a convenience store you might see hundreds of items. But cigarettes account for about one-third of their sales. That’s they’re most important product.”

If your state tax is much higher than the tax in neighboring states, he said, “people will look elsewhere, across state lines where taxes are less, or the Internet, where taxes sometimes aren’t collected at all. And in an already struggling economy and tough economic times, that can affect sales.”

Taxes on cigarettes in Idaho are only 57 cents a pack; in Oregon they’re $1.18, he said.

Tom’s proposal has the support of the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Lucy Culp, government affairs director for the Heart Association in Washington, said that as of 2007 only 16.5 percent of adults smoked. That figure from 2006 for 10th-graders was 15 percent, she said. The latter group is what anti-smoking campaigns are targeting, she said.

SB 5626 has been referred to Tom’s budget committee, but isn’t yet scheduled for a hearing.

In 1935 the state cigarette tax was 1 cent a pack. It’s been increased 18 times over the past 70 years.

In 2006 the state collected $436 million from taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, said higher taxes on cigarettes could result in lower overall sales and lower tax collections. His agency estimates the state would collect a total of $503 million next year if the $1-a-pack increase took effect. However, it might be as low as $477 million if the federal cigarette tax also went up.

<<News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA) — 01/30/09>>