Now that the Legislature released its final budget recommendation for FY10, its clear many worthy programs will be forced to lay off staff and cut back services. We all know that these are very difficult economic times. Every individual and family in the Commonwealth is feeling the pinch.
The House and Senate cut programs, raised taxes, dipped into the rainy day fund and allocated federal stimulus dollars to patch together a budget that will keep our state afloat and protect some vital services. Given these desperate times, it’s hard to imagine why the state is leaving $10-15M in revenue uncollected.
Last year when the tax on cigarettes was raised $1 per pack, so called “other tobacco products” were not subject to the increase. These “other” products are chew, small cigars and roll-your-own tobacco. Many of these products come in candy flavors like grape and peach, just the thing young kids want. Watch a clip of kid using this stuff here. It’s hard to imagine why the state would want to discount these products.
The tax loophole on these tobacco products has been caught the attention of our policy makers. Rep. Hecht (D-Watertown) filed a bill to close the loophole. It’s been heard and there seems to be some support. But, quite frankly, we raised the sales tax in a few hours. How long does it take to close a loophole, collect $10-15M in revenue, fund some worthy programs – maybe even tobacco control programs! – and make it a little easier to prevent kids from using this stuff?
Yes, I’m one of those crazy anti-smoking advocates, but this seems like a no-brainer and I can’t think of any reason why this wasn’t done. Can you?
An additional $10-$15 million in new tax revenue plus an incentive for adults to quit and kids not to start. Sounds like a good deal to me! Hopefully, the state will have these funds go towards its tobacco control program to deal an additional punch to big tobacco as well as help those who have been paying the tax to quit!
I didn’t have much money. So I rolled my own. I have no idea what a carton of cigarettes goes for now, but it was around $10 then. The equivalent amount of loose tobacco came with papers for about $2. I have no doubt that I would have quit sooner, and that the RYO portion of the smoking market would have disappeared, if the costs were the same.
You can put a $50 tax on that crap if you want, but leave my cigars alone!
Would the $1/pack apply to single stogies? It seems that while a “per pack” metric is easy to employ, it’s impact varies widely on the amount of tobacco/nicotine/chemical additives per pack.
<
p>Put a different way, should the small pack of roll-your-own and the “party pack” both have a $1 tax, or should the tax vary by size?
<
p>I don’t know the answers, just asking some questions.
Why shouldn’t all tobacco products be taxed at the same rate? We tax cigarettes to decrease smoking rates, particularly among kids. And for those who continue smoking, they are forced to pay for at least some of their health care costs by paying taxes.
<
p>But for other tobacco products, like single serving candy-flavored cigars, we discount the tax. That doesn’t make sense at all. We should pass this tax … AND let’s fund tobacco control. It’s the leading preventable cause of death in MA. I don’t want anyone else in family to die from tobacco.
<
p>Chris
The writer makes very note worthy comments relative to this important issue. The damage done to our society by tobacco is almost beyond calculation. We should call our legislators and urge them to do the right thing, as the writer has articulated. When I read about this subject, I can’t but help to remember the great Yul Bryner, who after his tragic death from cancer had a message aired which told people, “Now that I’m gone I’m telling you don’t smoke.” I think if everyone refamiliarized themselves with that jolting ad, LINK – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v… -they would very quickly support the legislation filed by Representative Hecht.
Kevin Sowyrda
That image is likely to stop all discussion. I can’t even bring myself to watch the clip. Here’s hoping leaders on Beacon Hill decides to close the loophole.
From my experience, those flavored mini cigars and loose tobacco are quite popular among teens (perhaps because they are cheaper?) Young people are quite sensitive to small changes in the price of things. Pocket money can only go so far, and cigarettes compete with things like movies, clothes, shoes, makeup, etc.
But you are right, since not all tobacco products come in “packs,” you’d have to broaden the law. Maybe 50 cents on a bag of loose tobacco. 30 cents on single cigars. 75 cents on a can of chewing tobacco. Can’t be too hard to come up with a list of prices.
This deserves immediate attention by the legislature.