Committee takes no action yet on cigarette tax hike
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Raising cigarette taxes by $1 a pack would make it too expensive for some minors to take up smoking, public health advocates told an Oregon legislative panel Tuesday in urging the increase.
The House Revenue Committee heard public testimony on cigarette taxes but took no action.
"Cigarettes are unsafe at any level of consumption," Bud Pierce, a Salem oncologist and president of the Oregon Medical Association, told the committee. "We need to take this step and move forward, do all we can to make people not smoke. Paying more money makes people not smoke."
Critics said the tax hike would be particularly harmful to people with low incomes, who smoke at much higher rates than the wealthy, and to businesses that sell tobacco products.
"This is an extremely regressive tax on Oregonians," said Mark Nelson, a lobbyist for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and 7-Eleven Inc., whose convenience stores sell about $400 million worth of cigarettes each year in Oregon.
Taxing a product that people are addicted to might encourage them to forego other spending that could improve their health in order to pay for their addiction, said Rep. Jason Conger, R-Bend.
"I see a real moral hazard in this issue," Conger said, noting he's not opposed to pricing cigarettes out of the reach of young people.
At $1.18 a pack, Oregon's tobacco tax ranks 29th in the country and below the national average of $1.49, said Colleen Hermann-Franzen, advocacy and communications manager at the American Lung Association.
The tax hike would discourage children from smoking and would also encourage some adults to quit smoking or smoke fewer cigarettes, she said.
"We're going to see their health outcomes improve, we're going to see their quality of life improve too," Hermann-Franzen said.
Because it raises revenue, an increase in the cigarette tax would require support from three-fifths of the House and Senate, which would require bipartisan support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Rep. Vicki Berger, of Salem, the top Republican on the Revenue committee, told The Associated Press that the measure would be a tough sell among Republicans.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Rising taxes and imposing smoking bans, these are the only two things which our government can do to bring down the ratio of tobacco utilization.
^^Is that why red states are among the poorest in the nation?
Due to the increase in taxes for cigarettes most of the people are moving towards electronic cigarettes. And it is good too, because the use of tobacco will be decreased due to electronic cigarettes.
Reference: - http://www.smokerelief.co.uk/
There already is a liberal tax. Blue states pay taxes while red states take tax money.
People who smoke know it's bad for their health. Don't use that as an excuse.
Why don't they tax something that everyone uses. Instead of puting an excessive tax on something a person has a legal right to choose to do or not do. Smokers will buy a pack of cigarettes before they buy food. I spoke to a doctor recently and was told that smoking is more addictive than heroin. Hence the buying of cigarettes over food. A person who smokes and doesn't want to quit will pay the money if it means paying for it with pennys they found on the curb. Let's punish everyone, not just the smokers.
shinI would like to know when they are going to start alcohol taxes the way that they do cigarettes?  Teens go to the store and buy alcohol too and it is a lot cheaper than cigarettes.  To top it off when they are drinking and driving on the way home from a party they kill innocent people. Not to mention the way that alcohol effects the mood. So raise the price of alcohol and leave cigarettes alone a while.Â
As a California transplant I voted for a cigarette tax initiative that added $.50 per pack because I knew that would give me the push to quit for good. Â However, I just did a search to see which states had the highest percentage of smokers and I found that price didn't seem to play as big a part in discouraging smoking as smoking bans. Â Here is the link for the interactive map: Â Â http://www.smokefree.gov/map.aspx
If they tax things such as alcohol and tobacco the money should go to help people to stop drinking/smoking...it is B.S. That a certain segment get taxed exssesively. Only to have the money go to people who are annoyed by it.......if that is the case i would like there to be a liberal tax!!!!!
I wish what these people are claiming was true. As a teen I "bummed" cigarettes off of adults who didn't I.D. me and never went without. Now they want to raise the prices to give those who smoke an incentive to stop. Hate to say it but it will not stop. You want more money or want to make it so less people are dying? Tax junk food. Or even better make it against SNAP rules for people to buy it, then the money they get from tax payers go to healthy food (... =healthier people). I could easily write 100 different ways to make this state more money without legalizing any forms of drugs without impeding on anyone's rights, it's really not that hard to do. The government needs to stop trying to control us and rather help us make the country a better place.
@AmyWaller People may not buy as much junk food if it wasn't cheaper than the healthier food.  The price of food is crazy.  I would agree that the government needs to stop trying to control us but wouldn't making it illegal to buy junk food on SNAP be a way of controlling people?Â
Seriously this is why my fiance and I smoke pipe tobacco and use filters... basically a rollie. Cheaper and no one wants them so you don't have to worry about handing a minor one.
why is it that no one can be responsible for themselves?
No
no
No!
I thought discrimination was illegal...Oh, that's right..nothing is illegal for the government.
It should n't be legal to tax for the purpose of taking an adults rightful choice!!!
Enough is enough!! Stop increasing taxes and start cutting life long salaries for politicians!
If they can afford to pay an adult to buy them alcohol and can afford to buy drugs then what is going to stop them from being able to afford cigs....if someone is STUPID enough to purposefully ruin their insides and that of their family members and kids....by all means....population control....just keep it out of my face and that of my children because we didn't ask for it....
Not that I think it will accomplish stopping minors though. Its just gross...
Do it!
If they want more money, why not tax something that gets sold a lot and is bad for you.....soda...?? Just .03 would probably raise millions!!
If they are trying to make it "too expensive "for minors to smoke as a reason for this tax, it's too shortsighted and not a wise step to take to govern!
they will still smoke... the increase will just make smokers complain more than they already do. i don`t care if you jack up the price of them, hell its a good incentive for people to stop, will it stop them though? doubt it.
Tax the number one killer in the world...alcohol.
Did it accomplish stopping minors from smoking last time they raised the prices?? NO. It's a crock , and an easy way to justify jacking up the prices- one that people might get on board with. Has nothing to do with protecting minors, who will find a way to get them anyway, just as they always have, and just as they do with alcohol and any number of other substances, both legal and illegal. It's all about the Benjamins. Would sit better with me if they'd just come right out and SAY that, rather than finding some angle that people actually might buy into! Wanna tax something? Tax ALL of it, across the board- cigs, beer, wine, hard alcohol.
hell no they already cost to much
TAX beer and wine to
Of course they will do it! It's a tax revenue that too many people will agree with! Why not seek a BAN on selling and marketing and manufacturing a "dangerous" product?! Make them ILLEGAL if they are speaking truth. No, they only want the easiest path possible to more $$. This is a farce! More people have stopped smoking, so the current taxes are not producing the REVENUE they want. So the few left are going to be gouged, when it becomes impossible to tax these people more, or everyone stops smoking, the next group to be assaulted will be anyone who does not fit their desired WEIGHT group. They are the next easy target. You will be taxed by calories and fat content, maybe even if you don't go to the gym, and it will be accepted. This is the reality of this government. Nanny state, yes, but only when it is profitable to their pockets. :(
*how and*for. I hate auto correct.
Yes I do think prices should increase. The thing is it doesn't matter hoe much you charge got cancer sticks. If a teen can find a way they will smoke.
It won't make a change just the people with children will have less for them. Not a smoker and think its Awful but how about about incentive not to start at all??!
Another tax increase isnt going to stop them from getting the cigarettes.They can and will get money.
This doesnt make sense.....underage smokers only "buy" when they have money. Otherwise they steal and bum off of people. I know because thats what i used to do and still see them do. Total bs excuse for another tax increase on cigs.
Sure, why not tax us more, after all .... BORN FREE - TAXED TO DEATH! Wasn't that why our forefathers left England to begin with? Take your taxes and STUFF THEM!!!!
just wait..next they'll tax microwaveable food because kids eat it,fast food, and then they will tax food because we don't all eat organic, any drink but tap water...why tax adults for teens bad choices?
So prices of Mary Jane will also be astronomical too right?
I smoked for 20 yrs and currently 3 yrs smoke free. Â But I'm also sick and tired of Big Brother hiking taxes on ONE specific product cause of THEIR views. Â Yes smoking is bad, but it's OUR choice, not yours.
@Steven Manson Agreed. If they want to tax something, tax something that the population as a whole uses. Not that I want anymore taxes attached to anything, but smokers are being singled out here. Persecuted.
I am guessing too many people have quit and they need more tax money,glad I quit 20 years ago
Just another government scheme to tax the middle class! Ridiculous!
NO!!!!! It wont keep kids away at all. It's more taxes for the government to have. Also Non-Smokers will be the only one to vote on it. I'm a Non-smoker so I say NO!!!
raise them 5 dollars a pack and their too expensive for most adults too!
Lol!! Seriously...this is laughable. I started smoking at the age of 13 and continuously managed to get my hands on cigarettes. Nothing will detour a rebellious teen. The motive for this tax is almost as ridiculous as raising the price of a Big Mac by $1 so a thin person doesn't get fat.
Glad I quit
Do it! it should be more diffilcut to kill yourself slowly in America
I paid like $12 a pack in Chicago, and close to the same price in New York...... When they raise the price at starbucks do people stop drinking it? No. How about they raise the price of cigarettes, alcohol, fast food, then used the profit to fund a better health care system.
why not have an alcohol tax? seems only fair considering how minors like to party and drink. plus there are more deaths by drinking and driving than smoking alone.
Smokers are always seeming to be slammed with taxes and being discriminated! Enough is enough, I get it that non smokers don't like it & that is their personal choice but get over yourselves! What about alcohol? Makeup? Better yet, how about paying taxes on each pound a person weighs? Wow, I think that the government needs to cut their overhead & not keep cutting programs & jobs. Why not get a single parent in there to balance the budget & see just how much unnecessary things are stopped
i love how everyones quick to jump on a cigarette tax because they are bad for you. If thats the case then lets tax alcohol, fast food, soda, candy. The list could go on and on. That excuse is just bs and lame how is it gonna keep kids from smoking when they cant buy them and they usually just steal them from there parents anyway. This is just another way for the state officials to keep lining there pockets with money.