The North Platte Telegraph
Senator Mike Gloor (35th District) is finalizing proposed legislation that would enact a $1.35 per-pack tax increase on cigarettes.
Proponents of the legislation are pointing to a survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies. Results were released Tuesday by a coalition of public health groups, citing that 73 percent of Nebraskans are in favor of increasing tobacco taxes.
Gloor said the poll findings are significant because almost half of those polled are smokers, which is an indication of strong support.
The new tax would raise an estimated $72.9 million in annual state revenue. The American Cancer Society estimates that the tax would be high enough to prevent 19,500 Nebraska kids from becoming smokers, encourage 10,000 existing adult smokers to quit and prevent 8,800 deaths while saving the state $463 million in tobacco related health care costs.
Those kinds of numbers can't be ignored, according to Community Connections Tobacco Free Lincoln County Coordinator Bonnie Kruse.
"If this tax would create that much in state revenue that would be fantastic, but it's not my main focus," she said. "My main focus is dedicated to reducing tobacco use, especially in our youth."
Former State Senator Ernie Chambers was fond of saying, "If it's that bad for you, tax it out of existence."
Kruse said it's not that simple, but policy changes can be good when it comes to prevention efforts.
"It's very hard to do what we do given the accessibility to tobacco," she said. "One of the most effective ways to help us prevent tobacco use by youth is policy change. but whenever you talk about raising taxes, even in an area that doesn't affect the entire population, you get advocates on both sides and sometimes you get surprised by the people who advocate for and against you, so you always have to expect a fight in these situations."
Senators predict battle
some senators have yet to hear the proposal from Gloor, but are predicting a battle either way. State Senator Tom Hansen (42nd District) said most legislators have sworn off taxes in general, but he is keeping an open mind as the proposal comes forward.
"Small increases are still tax increases," said Hansen. "I have not reviewed the proposal, so I haven't made up my mind, but I expect this to be a real fight if it gets out of committee and on to the floor."
Kruse said data shows that for every 10 percent increase of the price on tobacco products, it reduces youth smoking by seven percent. for agencies like hers, reduction in usage is the ultimate goal. Gloor said he wants to increase state revenue, but the mission behind the legislation is to reduce tobacco consumption.
as a former Grand Island hospital administrator, Gloor said he is well aware of the adverse health effects of smoking.
"I would see people all the time, and I mean all the time, come in for smoking-related illnesses," he said. "The whole concept behind a smoking tax is to recoup the losses you have to the state from healthcare costs related to smoking. It's been about a decade since we've touched those taxes and in the meantime, healthcare costs associated with smoking have risen dramatically."
Gloor said it's time to bring that discussion forward and for the state to take a good, hard look at the long-term effects smoking is having on the state.
"That's the dollars and cents of this, but we also know that as costs for tobacco go up, people stop using it, especially adolescents and young adults," he said. "I think it's for the betterment of our state to move forward with this."
The legislation isn't expected to reach hearing until later in February, but Gloor is confident in moving forward despite anticipating a legislative battle.
"I've been working this behind the scenes for months and I have some senators who want to put their name on this now and some who see it as just another tax," he said. "Some senators have changed their minds when they see the numbers, so I expect the noise on this to get louder as it moves into the hearing phase later in February."
Click on this story at nptelegraph.com to post your comments, or e-mail mark.young @nptelegraph.com.
North Platte Nebraska's newspaper - The North Platte Telegraph. > News
You must log in to post a comment.