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Tobacco
users feel the bite as federal and state tobacco taxes spike
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[April 02, 2009]
April 1 brought a lovely day for
most people in central Illinois, but not for all. Area tobacco users
were... well, smoking mad, as the day also carried a hefty tax hike
on tobacco products. Federal tax on a pack of smokes was raised 62
cents a pack.
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 Most area retailers, via the tobacco industry’s earlier price hikes,
already had raised the price of smokes by as much as a dollar two
weeks ago. Now with the tax in place, some shops have gone up
another 50 cents a pack.To add insult to the smokers’ financial
injury, on Tuesday a state Senate committee endorsed a plan to raise
cigarettes in Illinois by another $1 per pack in the next year: 50
cents as soon as the bill is passed and another 50 cents at the
beginning of next year.
The Senate committee endorsed the governor’s plan to use the
extra funds to pay down the state's backlog of Medicaid bills. Gov.
Pat Quinn signaled support for the cigarette tax increase that
advanced on a 7-5 party-line vote of the Democratic-controlled
Senate Executive Committee because it reflects his March 18 budget
proposal.
Depending on where you live, cigarettes range from $4 a pack for
generic brands to as much as $9 a pack for name brands in heavily
taxed Chicago. With this new proposed state tax increase, cigs in
Chicago could reach the $10-a-pack price by this time next year.
Locally, one smoke establishment still had a few generic brands
at $4 a pack. Three area retailers, however, had no cigarettes under
$5 a pack, and one was at $5.50 for their cheapest pack.
It wasn’t a coincidence that the store with the cheapest prices
saw heavy activity this morning, as smokers staved off their craving
long enough to shop for a cheaper price for their smokes.
One area retailer, who preferred not to be named, stated that he
wonders why only smokers and not drinkers are being so heavily
taxed. "I don’t do either, (smoke or drink) but it seems to me
drunks get more of a pass on their drinking than a smoker does.
Smoking might kill the person, but a drunk driver can kill any of
us. Where is the huge tax increase on liquor?" anonymous pondered.
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One patron at a retailer said the word that the state could add
another dollar a pack was just too much. "I’m leaving this state. I
never saw a place that taxed a person as badly as Illinois does,"
the shopper said. "There is no reason to live here. The climate
certainly isn’t worth bragging about either."
Nationally, taxes on all other tobacco products increased even
more dramatically than on cigarettes. Besides the federal tax on a
pack of cigarettes having tripled from 39 cents to more than $1,
some of the largest hikes were on roll-your-own tobacco, which was
raised from $1.09 to $24.78 per pound, and the tax on small cigars
went up from $1.82 to $50.33 per 1,000.
With the huge increases, the question that is being raised is if
this could become the straw that broke the camel’s back. Will
smokers now quit the habit in droves? If so, will the tax increases
actually bring in anywhere near the amount the feds expect?
[Associated Press;
LDN staff]
The following links may be helpful if
you are considering quitting smoking:
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