Georgia: Higher drag on smoking

Public health advocates and Georgia legislators who support a major increase in taxes on tobacco products said the action will help the state cover smoking-related health care costs and deter people from smoking.

“I am very much against tax increases in general, but this will actually be a tax cut in the long run,” said Georgia state Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, a physician and chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “Every pack of cigarettes sold today costs society later — about $10 per pack — due to increased medical costs.”

Georgia’s current cigarette tax is 37 cents per pack, the 44th-lowest in the nation, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The proposal would raise the tax by $1 per pack of cigarettes and from 10 percent to 15 percent of the wholesale price for loose or smokeless tobacco.

Tennessee’s cigarette tax is 62 cents per pack (ranked 37th by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids), and Alabama’s is 43 cents (ranked 43rd), according to the organization.

State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, is a sponsor of the legislation to boost cigarette taxes. He has argued that the legislation, if approved, would generate at least $335 million in new revenue, prevent health care cuts and reduce smoking, particularly among teens.

“We hope the massive state budget deficit will give it the impetus for passage,” said Rep. Stephens.

Health departments throughout the state also are backing the increase.

“Among our state’s 18 public health districts, the Northwest Georgia Public Health District has the highest percentage of adults, 27.8 percent, who smoke cigarettes,” said Logan Boss, spokesman for the district that includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker among its 10 counties.

“We know that every 10 percent price increase results in a 7 percent drop in total youth smoking and an overall 4 percent reduction in tobacco product use,” he said.

Smokers and small-business owners are not so enthusiastic about tobacco tax increases.

Mitul Patel, owner of Beverage World & Tobacco for Less in Fort Oglethorpe, said smoking may kill but so can raising taxes.

“It will kill our business if prices are lower in Tennessee because people will go there to shop,” he said.

If a $1-per-pack increase passes, carton prices will go up by $10, he said. However, the price for loose tobacco — the kind used by people who roll their own cigarettes to save money — will increase from about $15 a pound, tax included, to about $40 a pound, according to Mr. Patel.

“This will make tobacco a luxury item,” he said. “To raise more money, why not tax toilet paper? Then everybody would pay, not just a few.”

Self-described “occasional smoker” Wayne Bates, 62, of Fort Oglethorpe, called the proposed increase “outrageous.”

“Cigarettes cost enough already,” he said. “Just like gasoline, if you need it or want it, you can’t quit.”

While buying several cartons of name-brand cigarettes, Renee Graves, 51, of Rock Spring, Ga., said higher taxes translate to higher prices and will force her to switch to cheaper, generic brands.

“They’re going up on all my habits,” she said.