AUSTIN — Texas smokers will pay significantly more for cigarettes starting Jan. 1 when the excise tax increases by $1 a pack in a move that health experts hope will discourage folks, especially teens, from lighting up. The state tax increase — from 41 cents to $1.41 per pack — also will help pay for school property tax cuts.
Way back during the Dark Ages of the Vietnam War, there was an anti-war poster that said something like, “It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.” I’m beginning to feel the same way about the latest tax increase that will hit Texas smokers on January 1st. Perhaps some day the cost of a pack of cigarettes will be so onerous and prohibitively expensive that smokers will simply give up.
I’m fully aware that my argument is a primarily emotional and not logically-supportable one. I’m also fully aware that I just don’t give a damn about that. I’m happy to see that Texas is taking a positive step to disincentivize smoking. I suppose that smokers and civil libertarians will see the heavy hand of the “nanny state” at work here, but I firmly believe that public health concerns should trump any other considerations when it comes to cigarette smoking.
“The cigarette tax, more than anything, will have the most significant impact in stopping kids from ever starting smoking, because they are so price-sensitive,” said James Gray, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society, Texas chapter.
The Texas tax increase will push the price of a single pack of cigarettes to around $4.50.
It’s still not nearly enough, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Personally, I’d like to see the cost of a single pack at about $20.00, but I’ll take what I can get for now.
An estimated 143,000 Texas adults will quit smoking, and a projected 284,000 teens never will start smoking as a result of the tax increase, Gray said, citing various studies. About 3.3 million Texans currently smoke, based on a 20 percent adult smoking rate in the state, he said.
I’m not at all certain about Gray’s random number generator, but I would agree that ANYTHING that reduces the likelihood of a child taking up smoking, and anything that convinces adults to quit smoking is a good thing. A very good thing.
When you consider that Texans pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 BILLION to treat smoking-related illnesses every year, I don’t know how any reasonable person could argue against this tax increase. If an increase in the cigarette tax will disincentivize smoking for more adults and children, and if it decreases public spending on tobacco-related illnesses, how can it be seen as anything BUT a good thing?
Yes, it will be a great day when a pack of smokes costs $20, and cartons of Marlboros languish on convenience store shelves because no one can any longer afford to slowly commit suicide….
