The Benefits of a Higher Cigarette Tax
Published on April 21, 2009 2:58 AM
Higher cigarette tax force smokers to quit. For example Linda Loud, an administrative assistant for a St. Petersburg property management company, tried her first cigarette when she was 12-years-old. And she has smoked about a cig pack every two days since she was 54-years-old.
Since then, the 54-year-old has smoked cigarettes about a pack every two days. That changed recently when she went to pick up some Virginia Slims.
Her cigarettes, usually cost $34 a carton, then they had jumped to $10. She said that she can't afford to pay such big money for her favorite cigarettes.
Experts predicted that many other smokers also will try to abandon the bad habit because of a new federal cigarette tax.
Officials estimate 1.2 million smokers, more than 75,000 from Florida, will quit because of the tax, which increases the total federal cigarette tax 62 cents to $1.01 per pack starting April 1.
Antismoking advocates are praise the tax increase as a significant victory for public health.
Researchers, who have studied the issue for more than 20 years, said that raising cigarette prices works better than things like restaurant smoking bans or media campaigns.
Frank Chaloupka, an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said: "A big tax increase like this is the single most effective policy for reducing smoking. And this is by far the biggest increase we've ever seen."
Mr. Frank added also that the money raised from this latest tax increase, which was signed into law Feb. 4, will extend health care to 4 million uninsured children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Experts said that the tobacco increase will just force smokers to make sacrifices in other areas of life.
