Jump to full article: Eugene (OR) Register-Guard, 2002-04-05
Intro: It's too bad the state Department of Human Services didn't release its latest report on smoking a few weeks earlier, while the Legislature was still meeting in a special session. The report makes it clear that Oregon voters made a good choice when they raised cigarette taxes in 1996 - a finding that might have stiffened legislators' spines when they confronted the same choice this year.
Measure 44, approved by a healthy margin in 1996, added 30 cents per pack to the state tax on cigarettes, initially bringing in about $85 million a year in revenue. . .
The results have been dramatic. Since 1996, cigarette consumption has fallen 29 percent in Oregon, more than twice the nationwide rate of decline. The percentage of eighth-graders who smoke is down 44 percent . .
The revenue generated by a cigarette tax increase should be regarded as a temporary gain that is incidental to the substantial public health benefits. Under the current circumstances, that revenue gain, though temporary, would have provided more lasting support to state government than will come from several of the one-time raids and borrowings supported by the Legislature.
Measure 44 has had even better effects than its supporters hoped. The Legislature had a chance to follow that success with another. The latest report on smoking in Oregon should persuade lawmakers to reconsider, or at least allow Oregon voters to decide the issue.
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