OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Tobacco taxation and restriction activity is heating up around the country again, with tax increases on the front burner in Iowa and Oregon and on the radar screen in Arizona, while a smoking ban passes in Chicagosort ofand age restriction changes are brewing in New Jersey.
In Iowa, Governor Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that he will seek an 80-cent-per-pack boost in the Iowa cigarette tax when the legislature convenes next month, said the Quad City Times.
He said some of the proceeds from the tax hike would be used [image-nocss] to start a program that would help small businesses cover catastrophic health care costs, said the report.
Vilsack said the tax increase would be one more reason for people to stop smoking and for young people never pick up the habit. "It saves lives," he said.
The amount of the cigarette-tax increase is the same as a proposal from the beginning of the year that was fiercely opposed by legislative Republicans and ultimately scrapped, the report said. What is different, said the newspaper, is the use of the money. The previous plan was intended to cover the growing cost of Medicaid.
A later versionproposed as a compromise, but also unsuccessfulwould have raised the tax 36 cents per pack and used the proceeds to lower property taxes and boost funding for community colleges.
Vilsack said he is proposing a cigarette-tax hike again because he believes that Iowans overwhelmingly support the idea, and he thinks the state needs to do something about the high cost of health insurance.
The current state cigarette tax is 36 cents per pack, which was one of 10 lowest in the country at the beginning of the year, the report said.
Other states are also seeing activity on the tobacco taxation or regulation fronts:
Arizona
In Arizona, the owners of a supermarket chain want voters to boost cigarette taxes by 80 cents a pack in the state to pay for early childhood development programs, reported the Arizona Daily Star.
Backers of a new initiative hope the tax will raise $150 million a year, said the report. Members of a special board would use the proceeds to fill unmet needs in programs for children five and under, with some of the money earmarked for children in poor families.
The initiative is the brainchild of Nadine Mathis Basha, a member of the state board of education. Mathis Basha and her husband, Eddie, who own the grocery chain bearing the family name, also are putting up both personal and business funds to hire people to get 122,612 signatures by July to qualify it for the November ballot, the report said. Mathis Basha said the process, including advertising to gain voter support, will cost at least $1 million.
Oregon
In Oregon, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to ask state voters to approve a 60-cents-per-pack cigarette tax increase to extend health coverage to nearly 200,000 uninsured Oregonians, said the Associated Press.
The proposed increase would likely encounter strong resistance from tobacco industry interests and others who say it is not fair to saddle smokers alone with extra costs of expanding state-subsidized health care programs. A similar proposal that was introduced late in the 2005 legislative session died after state House Republican leaders refused to take it up.
The plan would raise the state's cigarette tax from $1.18 to $1.78 per pack and jump Oregon's rate from the nation's 14th- to sixth-highest.
A tobacco industry spokesperson called the legislators' initiative an "excessive" tax hike that unfairly targets one group of Oregonianssmokers. "Smokers already pay more than their fair share of taxes," said Bill Phelps of Philip Morris USA, the Richmond, Va.-based tobacco company. "Nearly 60% of the cost of an average pack of cigarettes already goes to the government" in state and federal taxes.
"The advantage of the initiative is that it goes directly to the people. Our job is to make the best possible case as to why this is necessary," said Rep. Billy Dalto, R-Salem, who is sponsoring the plan with Sens. Ben Westlund, R-Bend, and Alan Bates, D-Ashland, plus Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland.
Phelps said it is too soon to say what role, if any, the tobacco industry will play in the coming campaign over the proposed Oregon cigarette tax. Oregon voters have shown a willingness in the past to support cigarette tax increase, and State Senator Ben Westlund (R), who is co-sponsoring the new plan, said he thinks the state's voters will strongly favor another increase. "Most Oregonians recognize the fairness of taxing a product that makes people ill and has the greatest impact on health care costs of any product sold in the state," he said.
Once the state certifies a ballot title for the proposed initiative, backers will have until next July to gather the necessary 75,630 valid signatures to place the measure on the November 2006 general election ballot.
Illinois
In Illinois, the Chicago City Council passed yesterday, in a vote of 45 to one, a law to ban smoking in most buildings and public spaces except for bars, where smokers can puff away until mid-2008, said Reuters.
Until the City Council action, Chicago was the largest U.S. city that had not tackled the second-hand smoke issue. Lawmakers approved a compromise that gave taverns as well as bars attached to restaurants until July 1, 2008, to comply with the no-smoking ban.
Retail tobacco stores, private clubs or lodges, selected hotel rooms and private residences were also exempted from the ban that takes effect on Jan. 16, 2006. Mayor Richard Daley supports the measure.
Dozens of U.S. municipalities and several states, including New York and California, have banned smoking in most indoor spaces, including bars and restaurants. Last year, Ireland enacted a smoking ban in workplaces that included pubs.
The debate pitted many bar owners and restaurateurs such as former pro football great Mike Ditka against public interest groups such as the American Cancer Society that argued second-hand smoke was a known killer. Business interests pleaded smokers would go elsewhere, while supporters of the ban pointed to the experiences of many proprietors in New York and Los Angeles who said patrons generally adapted to smoking bans.
Chicagos ordinance, first introduced in the council a decade ago but blocked by business interests, reads that if bar owners can prove an air filtration system clears ambient smokesomething the laws supporters considered unlikelythen smoking will be permitted in perpetuity.
New Jersey
And in New Jersey, a state Senate panel has approved a bill aimed at reducing smoking among high school students by making it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone under 19, the AP said. The current limit is age 18.
If it becomes law, New Jersey would become only the fourth state in the country to raise the limit. The bill has been introduced in the state Assembly, but awaits committee action.
The bill was introduced by State Senator Joseph F. Vitale (D), who sponsored it with the Senate president, acting Governor Richard J. Codey.
The bill was approved six to zero by the Senate Health, Human Services & Senior Citizens Committee, which Vitale chairs.
Alabama, Alaska and Utah are the only states that have raised the legal age for sales of tobacco to 19, according to the governors office.
Also, an anti-smoking group sent state legislators a list of 177 municipalities whose governing bodies or boards of health passed resolutions in support of a bill that would ban smoking in restaurants and bars. There are 566 towns in New Jersey, and the 177 with resolutions represent 2.8 million people, about one-third of the states population, said New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution.
Opponents of such a ban, including restaurateurs and casino officials, have said it would result in lost business and lost jobs.
Codey and Gov.-elect Jon S. Corzine said they support a smoking ban, but acknowledge casinos may need an exemption.
The bill is to be considered by an Assembly committee on Thursday. Any bill not passed by January 9 expires, but could be reconsidered by lawmakers later in the year.
Nine states currently ban indoor smoking, including California, Delaware, New York and Connecticut.
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