Jump to full article: Greenville (SC) News, 2007-01-20
Author: Oscar Lovelace
Intro: While being a step in the right direction, Gov. Mark Sanford's proposal for a token increase in South Carolina's cigarette tax is a dollar short and a day late. In the halls of government there is a sore lack of understanding of health care in general and a gross underestimation of the impact of our state having the lowest cigarette tax in the nation.
The governor's proposal to raise the cigarette tax to 37 cents is more than a dollar short of the $1.41 state tax per pack recently passed by President Bush's home state of Texas. The national average state cigarette tax is now a dollar.
In our state, the smoking-caused health-care costs for Medicaid and Medicare are about $7 per pack of cigarettes sold. . . .
Why would our governor propose a 30-cent remedy to a $6.50 problem? . . .
In 2002, a terrorist cell in North Carolina was convicted of selling $7.9 million of cheap N.C. cigarettes in Michigan by the tractor-trailer load -- raising millions of dollars for the Hezbollah militia. . . .
Increasing our cigarette tax, at least to the national average, is common-sense public policy. It is the most effective deterrent to youth smoking, it reduces health-care costs and it saves lives here and abroad while generating revenue for our failing health-care delivery system. A 2006 voter survey showed that over 70 percent of S.C. voters are in favor of a dollar tax on each pack of cigarettes. As our legislative year begins, let your voice be heard.
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