ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996             TAG: 9602080014
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO 


THE CERTAINTY OF DEATH AND TAXES

VIRGINIA, in what should be to its great shame, has the nation's lowest excise tax on cigarettes - 2.5 cents a pack.

In what should be to its equally great shame, the state also ranks above the national average in its rate of smoking-related deaths and in the percentage of adults who are smokers.

Is Virginia's tobacco-related mortality rate - 366.6 deaths for every 100,000 people - related to its absurdly low tobacco tax? There's no proof of that, doubtless to the great relief of the cigarette industry. But a new report on smoking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes a point of citing tax rates in its state-by-state comparison. CDC must think there's a connection.

Virginia and four other tobacco-producing states - South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky - as a group have lower cigarette taxes than other states, and each of these states is above the national average in the percentage of adult smokers.

It's not unreasonable to suspect a link: the lower the tax, the less the deterrent to smoking; the more smokers and the more they smoke, the higher the smoking-related death rate.

But proof? Nope.

Indeed, some of the CDC numbers might be used to suggest there's no link between tax and death rates. Nevada, for instance, reports the highest death rate from smoking, and its cigarette tax is 35 cents a pack. That's higher than Utah's 26.5 cents a pack, and Utah has the lowest smoking-related death rate. Washington, D.C., has a 65 cents-a-pack tax, one of the highest in the nation, and its smoking-related death rate is second only to Nevada's.

Still, perhaps these seeming anomalies suggest what most people already know: Salt Lake City is miles apart from Las Vegas or Washington, not only in geography but in lifestyle. Meanwhile, eight of the 10 states with the lowest excise taxes on tobacco have above-average rates of adult smoking, while seven of the 10 states with the highest tobacco taxes report lower-than-average smoking rates.

There is a great body of evidence, moreover, to show that changing cigarette taxes have their greatest impact on adolescents, who are more price-sensitive and more likely to be deciding whether to smoke.

Raising Virginia's cigarette tax may not guarantee that fewer adults, already addicted to cigarettes, will die. It almost surely would guarantee that fewer Virginia kids will take up the habit - and there's no doubt whatsoever that this would save lives. If youngsters don't start smoking before the age of 18, research has shown, they are unlikely ever to start.

Virginia's lawmakers, at least those not permanently fixed in Big Tobacco's pockets, might consider this fact, too: The CDC report says Virginia derives $15.2 million in tax revenue annually from cigarette sales. Virginia's medical costs directly related to smoking total $829 million a year - a significant share of which is borne by taxpayers.

In effect, then, a cigarette-tax increase - to discourage youngsters from smoking and to reduce smoking-related illnesses in the future - would offer tax relief for most Virginians, while saving thousands upon thousands of lives. How many assembly members have the courage or conscience to put the interests of most Virginians above the interests of the tobacco lobby?


LENGTH: Medium:   61 lines



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