New cigarette tax isn’t about health

We supported the $1-per-pack cigarette tax hike that took effect on Jan. 1, 2008. We support the passage of a statewide smoking ban, and one with real teeth — no tavern exemption. And if you ask us, we’ll tell you: You should quit smoking. You’ll feel better and you’ll live longer.

But the 75-cent-per-pack tax increase contained in Gov. Jim Doyle’s new budget may be a bridge too far. We are concerned that we may have reached the point at which the state cannot count on the tax as either a revenue-driver or a public health measure.

Worse, this proposal has the feel of a budget patch masquerading as a public health initiative. Gov. Doyle says it is primarily about getting people to quit smoking. If it happens to help him fill the state’s $5.4 billion deficit and present a balanced budget, that’s a happy coincidence.

We can’t quite choke that down.

Because smoking is so harmful, and because Wisconsin is not a tobacco-producing state, there is no strong advocate for smokers built into our political system. That’s why the tax increase that took effect in 2008 was able to survive 2007′s interminable budget negotiations, while many other tax increases — including reasonable measures like the hospital bed tax — were stripped out by Republican legislators.

That’s all quite as it should be. We do not intend to become vigorous defenders of Phillip Morris et al. any time soon. But at some point, a perennially increasing cigarette tax starts to feel like the governor is simply taking the path of least political resistance to avoid hard choices.

And there’s no way around this fact: A cigarette tax is regressive. For poorer people, the tax will comprise a larger share of total income. That means the tax increase will hit people who already are bearing the brunt of the down economy. To be sure, smoking is in some sense a voluntary activity. But we also know that many smokers experience it as anything but.

If price were the only factor driving smoking rates in Wisconsin, the government could simply increase the price by, say, $100 per pack and watch the habit disappear. That’s not quite how it would happen, of course. Instead, what would happen would be the growth of a black market in smokes, and a boon to Indian reservations and neighboring states where taxes were low.

Would a 75-cent increase drive some of the same behaviors? On the margins, almost certainly, though perhaps not in the form of a massive wave.

The point is that, while correlated, there is not a single, simple formula dictating the relationship between taxes and smoking rates. There is reason for concern that this increase may see diminishing returns both in revenue and public health outcomes.

More Facebook kudos

A few weeks ago we gave kudos to the village of Weston for using Facebook to connect with its citizens. At the time we wrote the editorial, we didn’t know that the village of Kronenwetter, too, had just started using the social networking site. Kronenwetter deserves kudos, too. Now it’s past time for us to see a commitment by Wausau and other local municipalities to updating their digital presence.

Facebook is just one of the digital tools available to governments, but it lends itself to the task because it is one of the easiest and most popular. We like seeing government experiment with all sorts of methods of connecting citizens, and Kronenwetter’s Facebook page is another productive step forward.

Source: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20090222/WDH06/902220319

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