Published: January 18, 2007 10:26 pm         

Lawmaker plugs benefits of $1 tax on cigarettes

CHARLESTON — A Republican lawmaker exhorted fellow delegates Thursday to slap an extra $1 tax on cigarettes to discourage nicotine abuse and eliminate the remaining sales tax on groceries.

This would energize West Virginia’s economy and spare a future generation from getting addicted to a habit that costs all residents in smoking-related health costs, Delegate Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, contended in a floor speech.

Some 4,000 state residents die annually because of tobacco, more than deaths attributed to auto crashes, illegal drugs, AIDS and suicides, based on figures furnished by the Centers for Disease Control, he said.

On top of that, he said, some $700 million is consumed each year in health care costs, while a like amount is sacrificed due to absenteeism in the workplace caused by smoking-related illness, Carmichael said.

West Virginia remains in the top five states with adults saddled with the nicotine habit, he said.

“In terms of fundamental public health and pure economic impact, it would be difficult to imagine an issue that would take precedence over our policy decisions regarding tobacco use and taxation,” Carmichael said.

The delegate said both Republicans and Democrats share his convictions about hitting tobacco with the added tax, which would equal about 20 percent of the going market price per pack.

“The higher cigarette tax prevents the next generation of smokers from ever getting started,” he said. “It saves thousands of dollars and literally billions of dollars in expenditures.”

Carmichael disputed the claims of some that a higher cigarette tax would drive smokers across the state line where the tax is much lower and hurt border businesses.

Eliminating the food tax would more than offset any loss, since studies show that two-thirds of all cigarettes are purchased in single packs, he suggested.

“Are you really likely to drive across the border to buy a pack of cigarettes or more likely to drive across the border to buy $100 worth of groceries?” he asked.

Carmichael said studies show those in lower income brackets are more apt to smoke, and by discouraging the habit, while removing the remaining food tax, the benefits would be huge.

Lawmakers took off 1 cent of the grocery tax a year ago, then followed that with Gov. Joe Manchin’s suggested additional 2-cent removal — one cent this year, the other coming in 2008.

House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, applauded Carmichael’s anti-smoking remarks, saying results of the last tax increase when Bob Wise was governor have been “remarkable.”

“All those terrible, negative, horrible things that we heard would happen if you enacted an increase in the tobacco tax didn’t happen,” he said.

“But the good thing is what happened to people — they live longer and better.”

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