Committee takes no action yet on cigarette tax hike
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Raising cigarette taxes by $1 a pack would make it too expensive for some minors to take up smoking, public health advocates told an Oregon legislative panel Tuesday in urging the increase.
The House Revenue Committee heard public testimony on cigarette taxes but took no action.
"Cigarettes are unsafe at any level of consumption," Bud Pierce, a Salem oncologist and president of the Oregon Medical Association, told the committee. "We need to take this step and move forward, do all we can to make people not smoke. Paying more money makes people not smoke."
Critics said the tax hike would be particularly harmful to people with low incomes, who smoke at much higher rates than the wealthy, and to businesses that sell tobacco products.
"This is an extremely regressive tax on Oregonians," said Mark Nelson, a lobbyist for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and 7-Eleven Inc., whose convenience stores sell about $400 million worth of cigarettes each year in Oregon.
Taxing a product that people are addicted to might encourage them to forego other spending that could improve their health in order to pay for their addiction, said Rep. Jason Conger, R-Bend.
"I see a real moral hazard in this issue," Conger said, noting he's not opposed to pricing cigarettes out of the reach of young people.
At $1.18 a pack, Oregon's tobacco tax ranks 29th in the country and below the national average of $1.49, said Colleen Hermann-Franzen, advocacy and communications manager at the American Lung Association.
The tax hike would discourage children from smoking and would also encourage some adults to quit smoking or smoke fewer cigarettes, she said.
"We're going to see their health outcomes improve, we're going to see their quality of life improve too," Hermann-Franzen said.
Because it raises revenue, an increase in the cigarette tax would require support from three-fifths of the House and Senate, which would require bipartisan support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Rep. Vicki Berger, of Salem, the top Republican on the Revenue committee, told The Associated Press that the measure would be a tough sell among Republicans.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
I am a smoker who has tried many times to quit. I am all for raising prices, taxes, anything on cigarettes!
What will They use for money when smokers quit They will then have to up taxes on other things to make up the difference so what is next most likely beer wine and when people quit drinking because of How hight the tax is They move on to taxing Tolit papper
 " particularly harmful to people with low incomes, who smoke at much higher rates than the wealthy "
Do you know how much it costs the tax payers when smokers slowly die of lung disease? COPD or lung cancer takes about 5 years to die of (at public expense)..
Drinking alcohol is bad for your health also. So if your for raising the tax of cigs just because its bad for you. Lets raise the price on soda, alcohol, candy. And hey how about sugar to. Let's tax it all. I disagree on raising the tax on anything in this poor economy.
It will not stop anyone young or old. They will just do without something else. I have quit and restarted several times and I do agree it is better for a persons health, but that is there choice. To force someone into anything by any means is being a dictator. And what the story did not say is where the 100% of the money would go, schools, I don't think so, they are always asking for more. Roads, I don't think so, they say they are broke and all the construction I see is on roads that don't need it and we have an I-5 bridge that has been going for years. If they can come up with a way to put all the money collected to it's intended purpose then I might support it but not if some of it is going into their pockets, if that be the case then tax something everyone uses like TP.
ADD 5$
It is way past time that our elected members give up the idea of taxing everything they can. Nickle-dime the public to death. Perhaps it is time to forcefully remove some elected officials.
i DON'T SMOKE EITHER.
WE NEED TO TAX ALL THE BAD UNHEALTHY HABITS ALONG WITH THESE. mAYBE WE WILL BECOME DISCIPLINED PEOPLE AFTER ALL, OR JUST GO BROKE.
Even though I don't smoke and did survive throat cancer I don't think it is fair to tax them more, it isn't doing what they say it will. I wish they could all just quit for their own sake.
no
NO!!! It's doesn't matter how much they raise taxes. It's never going to cause them to use the money for it's intended purpose.
Taxing people does not have to do with your health. we all use that tax money, we should all pay it. If they were taxing our gas everyone would be paying it and very few would agree with it. We could just tax people with the middle name Marie, that would be just as fair! You should not be able to tax only one group of people and have everyone benefit from it! Absolutely NOT!!!!
Morgan, best not call people uneducated and then post a bat$hi! crazy rant that doesn't do much to show your intelligence. .
BS - ppl that smoke do not make medical insurance go up! PPl that smoke pay nearly double for medical insurance than those that do not!!! I am so tired of seeing discrimination in action. And, no, I do not smoke.
Ryan, I think you misunderstood my comment. I wasn't saying we all purchase cigarettes, I was illustrating the selfishness of the logic behind this. You saying that if they get expensive enough you hope people will quit pretty much just reaffirms what I was saying - that it is selfishness masked behind concern for the health of others.
i rembember taking up smoking when i was in hight school and cost did not deterr me. i gave up lunches and what not
Why don't the tax the ppl with the most money instead.. makes more sense
Yes! Pave the roads smokes!
Seriously? The best you people can come up with is, "it's not healthy"? ****NEWS FLASH***** This just in....... smoking is the only thing Oregonians do, that is bad for their health. UM NO. Nice try though. Go eat a cheeseburger, have a few beers, and drive your car while texting. IDIOTS
yes
We will definetly support it!
Zac, my friend...we all DONT purchase cigarettes. If they get expensive enough, we hope people will quit smoking.
Extremely selfish on the part of the non smoking majority. Why tax something we all purchase, when we can tax a minority of Oregonians for their poor health choices, and then act like it's for their own good. Is there a good reason why, using this same sort of ideology, we don't tax fast food as well?
Smoking leads to health problems, health problems lead to increase in doctor visits and use of medication, use of doc and meds is $$ that insurance providers have to pay for. Increasing the tax on cigarettes makes sense to me...then smokers will be paying back into the tax pool that pays to fix their health :)
There are arguements on both sides of the second hand smoke debate, but that really isnt the issue here. The issue is the government continues to push the sin tax and targets a small segment of the population to pay these taxes. The tax should be shouldered by everyone. If they keep raising the tax on cigarettes, WHAT would they DO if people did quit smoking? Then where would the money come from? As it stands, I am a good source of taxes for the state. I smoke and I drink. If I quit, where would the money come from?
i support this
its bad for your health, its bad for other peoples health.... good choice.
Nope it's not right plus didn't our taxes go up enough at beginning of the year?
I think it would make more sense to tax something everyone uses, such as toilet paper. You would be spreading the tax amongst everyone. As someone said on another station's version of this same story, taxing cigarettes to make someone quit is counter productive.
how about a dollar tax on toliet paper? EVERYONE uses that!!!
Hell no Wont support it!
Yes raise them to $10 a pack or more :)
sweet so more money fer our schools...Haha