Grover Norquist and Paul Blair of Americans for Tax Reform (president and state affairs manager, respectively) recently published an article on National Review where they discussed about how electronic cigarettes bare the truth about public health deception.
Among the hot topics these days is the ecigarette taxation being pushed by some legislators and public health groups. Ecigarette devices are considered by more and more smokers as better, in not healthier, alternatives to real cigarettes. In fact, many of them have already given up smoking and testify that ecigs are helpful in smoke cessation.
For many years, public health officials, advocates and groups have been urging smokers to stop smoking cigarettes. Now that the smokers are quitting smoking with the help of ecigarettes, politicians are pushing for added taxes on ecigs.
Norquist and Blair explained that higher tobacco taxes were argued to force smokers in kicking the habit. Furthermore, increasing taxes again and again will also produce the same outcome again and again. In the past 13 years, cigarette sin taxes have already been increased at least 20 times. Smokers did not stop. They instead stretched their budgets even more just to afford smoking expenses and I n turn fatten the national and state treasury.
New Taxation Target
So expensive are tobacco cigarettes these days due to the soaring sin taxes. Thus, smokers are turning to more cost-effective electronic cigarettes. Yet, legislators do not find this amusing or even favorable. They do not see this as good news to public health, but as threat to government coffers.
Targeting electronic cigarette for tax increases according to Norquist and Blair reveals what public health movement is really about: not about the health of people, but about extraction of money from the consumers. A proof to this is when US President Obama signed the 156% federal cigarette tax increased just after 16 days into presidency and has quickly forgotten about his firm pledge of not raising any taxes on citizens with under $250,000 income.
Collection From Cigarette Taxes
At least $500 billion in cigarette payments and taxes have already been collected by the government since 1998. Last year alone, the government has already collected about $44 million from the Master Settlement Agreement payments and taxes.
No such penal tax scheme exists for ecigarettes since there is practically nothing to punish ecigs for. Yet, for every ecig that a smoker picks, the government loses considerable amount from it sin taxes revenue. For example, if a smoker in Michigan chooses an ecig for a cigarette, the state loses $2 while the federal government loses $1.01/pack; Illinois loses $1.98; New York $4.35. This is certainly a serious problem for the big spenders in the state capitol.
Addicted to Smoking
Smokers are not the only ones addicted to smoking, but also the state governments, whose extreme reliance on the tobacco sin tax revenue has made them the main beneficiaries of the smoking habit in America.
Almost all revenue from tobacco that are supposed to be spent on persuading people to quit have actually been spent on other things like transportation project, public employee pensions, teacher raises, and other special interests.
Realizing that cigarette taxes cannot be raised anymore, many politicians are now eyeing electronic cigarettes as new source of income. There are at least 15 US states that considered applying tobacco tax on ecigs. Washington legislators’ wanted a 95% tax on ecigs while Ohio Governor Kasich desired to impose 700% increase on ecig taxes. Yet, anyone could plainly see from here about public health deception. Ecigs can potentially solve public health problem on smoking and the free market where ecig now belong will solve the smoking problem of the country if only lawmakers and public health will ultimately set aside their financial motives.
