New Jersey lawmakers are considering raising the tax on all tobacco products, a move that would add millions to the dollars already flowing into the state’s economy from the steep tax on cigarettes.
New Jersey taxes cigarettes at $2.70 a pack, among the highest in the nation. The revenue – close to $770 million -- goes to paying off a state bond issue, reimbursing hospitals for charity care to the poor and uninsured, and funding the general costs of state government.
But just $1.5 million went to tobacco control programs last year, down from $30 million in 2003. The extra revenue from a tax on all tobacco products would be used to expand efforts to discourage New Jerseyans -- especially teens -- from picking up the smoking habit.
“The state still has some elements of smoking cessation programs in place but they are a shadow of their former selves,” said Sen. Joseph F. Vitale (D-Middlesex). “It is not as though the state isn’t interested and doesn’t care. It does some things but not nearly what it needs to do.”
Hiking the tobacco tax is expected to generate $19 million more in revenues, money that would largely go for anti-smoking media campaigns. The tax could have the added dividend of deterring smoking by making the habit more expensive.
Either way, anti-smoking advocates said it would be a win/win in the battle against lung cancer, New Jersey’s No. 1 cancer killer, with an estimated 4,160 deaths last year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Vitale, chairman of the Senate’s health committee, said he will seek to pass tobacco tax parity legislation in tandem with the 2013 state budget, which must be ratified by the legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Christie before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Combating smoking is not solely the state’s responsibility, Vitale said. Advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society and the Lung Association “work diligently to try to reach the general public and children to keep the message going. It is about messaging all the time, and New Jersey really has fallen pretty far short in terms of where we used to be.”
Considering how much is collected from every package of cigarettes sold in the state -- $769.2 million in fiscal 2011 -- New Jersey “is not even spending pennies on the dollar when it comes to investing in tobacco control,” said Blair Horner, vice president for advocacy of the Eastern Division of the American Cancer Society. “We’re hoping that gets reversed this year.”
A report released last week by the U.S. Surgeon General's office on the use of tobacco by children and young adults called for increased tobacco taxes to discourage young Americans from picking up the smoking habit.
Nearly one in five high school-aged teens smokes, according to the report. That's lower than earlier decades, but the rate of decline has slowed. “Despite the well-known health risks, youth and adult smoking rates that had been dropping for many years have stalled,” the report said. Among adult smokes, 88 percent started smoking by 18.
The report calls for an end to the "tobacco epidemic" and suggests mass media campaigns, tobacco tax hikes, school programs, and expansion of smoke-free zones to decrease youth tobacco use.
“We have come a long way since the days of smoking on airplanes and in college classrooms, but we have a long way to go,” the report said. “We have the responsibility to act and do something to prevent our youth from smoking.”
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