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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Philip Morris Calls New VA Tobacco Tax "Excessive" [12/18-2]
Excerpts from: Warner’s Tax Plan Hits Up Tobacco Philip Morris Calls 75-Cent-A-Pace Levy Excessive
By JOHN DAVIS
Harrisonburg Daily News-Record [12/18/03]
"As an organization and as citizens of Virginia, Philip Morris USA believes that we should share the economic burden in the state," the tobacco giant said of its view on tax reform. However, Gov. Mark Warner's tax plan, which could raise the combined state and local cigarette taxes to 75 cents a pack, is not getting the company's support.
In a statement sent out Nov. 24, the day Warner announced his plan, Philip Morris characterized the proposal as excessive.
Warner is pushing for the state to charge tobacco 10 times the current 2.5-cent tax rate in addition to giving counties the power to institute a local cigarette tax of up to 50 cents in 2006.
"We'll have so many tax stamps on the bottom of cigarettes, they'll have to make the packs bigger," Weatherholtz said. The state keeps track of the cigarette tax by selling stamps to distributors. The distributors use machines that open cigarette cartons and stamp each pack. For localities that have a cigarette tax, the packs have to get stamped twice.
At least one group isn't concerned about logistical problems with taxing cigarettes or how more taxes could hurt the tobacco industry or even the fact that the new taxes will fatten the state's purse.
William Lee, a local physician, points out that a 55-cent city-state tax in Harrisonburg is still much less than what New York smokers pay. Last year, the state and local taxes on cigarettes in the City That Never Sleeps helped push cigarette prices north of $7 per pack.
"Cigarettes are a contributing factor to the deaths of more than one out of every five Americans today. . And that includes nonsmokers," Lee said.
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