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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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KY Considers Raising Tobacco Taxes [01/22-2]
Excerpts from: Raising taxes on tobacco
By Feoshia Henderson Kentucky
Post [01/22/04]
Proponents of increasing Kentucky's tax on cigarettes tout two big benefits:
a higher tax will decrease smoking among young people and will raise money for
a cash-strapped state.
But opponents point to one giant drawback in a state with a history intertwined
with tobacco: They argue an increase could further damage an already declining
tobacco industry in the commonwealth.
Rep. Jon Draud, R-Edgewood, filed a bill, which is before the 2004 General Assembly, that would raise the cigarette tax from 3 cents per pack to 75 cents per pack. The bill would also create a 32 percent tax on wholesale tobacco, currently not taxed.
At 3 cents per pack, Kentucky has the nation's second-lowest cigarette tax, just above West Virginia's 2.5-cent tax.Among the tax's supporters are the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Kentucky Education Association, the Northern Kentucky Independent Health District, the Kentucky chapters of the American Heart Association and the American Association for Retired People.
Frances Steenbergen, president of the Kentucky Education Association, said the estimated $280 million additional revenue the higher cigarette tax could bring could ease the state's budget crunch and aid education.
Raising the cigarette tax will save lives and have the effect of reducing (tobacco) consumption," said Matt Coleman, with the health department's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. Coleman pointed out that, according to federal Centers for Disease Control statistics, Kentucky's has 30.5 percent smoking rate -- the nation's highest. The smoking rate among high school students is 34.6 percent and among middle school students it is 15.1 percent.It's the impact on smoking rates -- particularly among the young -- that Draud says would give Kentucky a dual benefit from increasing the tax.
"The research has told us that if you get the price high enough, you get a decrease effect in the number of teen-agers smoking," Draud said. "You don't want to think of the cigarette tax as just a money issue, because it's primarily a health issue."
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