Reposted at
http://www.tobaccodeathray.blogspot.com,
Statement
of Matthew L. Myers, President,
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
WASHINGTON,
DC – A report issued
today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities provides
important new support for increasing the federal tobacco tax, finding it would
be both highly effective in reducing smoking and a reliable and predictable
source of revenue to fund early childhood education initiatives proposed by
President Obama. The report also finds that the tobacco tax increase
would deliver the greatest benefits to lower-income people, including health
benefits from reductions in smoking and educational benefits from expanding
early childhood education. These conclusions refute tobacco industry
claims that a tobacco tax increase is not a reliable source of revenue and
would hurt lower-income people.
The
combined policy of a tobacco tax increase and expansion of early childhood
education “is designed to benefit people both at the ‘front end,’ by expanding
opportunity, and at the ‘back end,’ by improving health and extending lives,”
the report concludes.
This
report demonstrates that the President’s proposal to increase the federal
cigarette tax by 94 cents per pack to fund early childhood education would be a
“win-win” for our nation’s children, improving their health and
education. The proposal also calls for increasing taxes on other tobacco
products. The tobacco tax increases would raise $78.1 billion over 10
years, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
The
new report found the tobacco tax increase would:
·
Be
an effective way to reduce smoking: “Tobacco taxes are a proven strategy
to reducing smoking, particularly among teenagers and low-income people.
Given the high health costs of tobacco use, reducing smoking rates would lead
to substantial health gains.”
·
Be
a reliable and predictable source of revenue: The report finds that the
higher tobacco tax would raise the revenue needed to fund early childhood
education, even while reducing smoking. “The President’s proposal takes
into account this positive behavioral response and assumes that revenue falls
at the end of the ten-year budget window. Even so, the estimated revenue
is sufficient to pay for the proposal over ten years.”
·
Deliver
significant health benefits to lower-income people. “The health benefits
of a higher tobacco tax are progressive. Because low-income people are
more sensitive to changes in tobacco prices, they will be more likely than
high-income people to smoke less, quit, or never start in response to a tax
increase.” The report also concludes, “Expanding early childhood education
– in particular for low- and moderate-income children – as the President has
proposed is a very progressive use of the revenue from raising the tobacco
tax.”
Study
after study has shown that increasing the tobacco tax is one of the most
effective ways to reduce smoking and other tobacco use, especially among
kids. Even tobacco companies admit in their own documents that tobacco
tax increases reduce youth smoking, which is why they vehemently oppose
them. Economic research has found that every 10 percent increase in the
price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by six or seven percent and overall
cigarette consumption by three to five percent.
The
health and economic benefits of a federal tobacco tax increase were confirmed
in a 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO found that a
50-cent increase in the federal tobacco tax would raise substantial new revenue
while prompting nearly 1.4 million adult smokers to quit by 2021, saving tens
of thousands of lives and reducing health care costs, including for the
Medicaid program. Based on the CBO’s statement that a $1 tax increase would
roughly double those benefits, we estimate that a 94-cent cigarette tax
increase would prompt 2.6 million adult smokers to quit and save 18,000 lives
by 2021.
In
addition to these gains from helping current smokers quit, the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids has estimated that a 94-cent increase in the federal
cigarette tax would:
·
Prevent
1.7 million kids from becoming addicted adult smokers
·
Prevent
626,000 premature deaths from these reductions in youth smoking alone
·
Save
$42 billion in future health care costs from these reductions in youth smoking.
In
addition to the many health and revenue benefits, national and state polls have
consistently found strong public support for substantial increases in tobacco
taxes, with Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike expressing support.
Tobacco
use is the number on cause of preventable death in the United States, killing
more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each
year. The evidence is clear: The proposed increase in federal tobacco
taxes would be both a health win and an economic win for our nation.
