Tobacco.org

Editorial: Smokers, pay up 

Clearly, as Gov. Charlie Crist said recently in considering the tobacco tax, the health benefits of hiking the cigarette tax by $1 a pack outweigh the political disadvantages of raising taxes. Indeed, the political advantages of this tax might be duly noted by employers who pay a share of the cost in not only health-insurance benefits but also the loss of productivity and absenteeism due to smoking-related illnesses of their work forces.

However, while enacting the new cigarette tax makes sense as a way of encouraging Floridians to stop smoking, it is not a broad-based tax. It falls mostly on the 2 million smokers and not the other 16 million residents.

The state should continue to look for ways to grow our tax base . . .

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