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Charlotte Observer
Shame on lawmakers standing up for cheap smokes

When politicians dig in their heels, you expect the issue to have moral weight. Decent salaries for teachers, for example, or measures that protect the natural environment. Both are worthy principles.

Yet some members of the North Carolina House of Representatives are standing firm for cheap smokes, and they should be ashamed. Keeping children from smoking and making a deadly product pay its way are more important than protecting economic interests.

Here are the facts.

At 5 cents per pack, North Carolina’s cigarette excise tax is the lowest in the nation. That needs to change. At the very least, it should be at 50 cents per pack. Better yet, it should be consistent with the national average at 84.5 cents per pack.

The state Senate passed a 35 cents per pack hike, but now at least 10 House Democrats have refused to support a cigarette tax any larger than 25 cents. That pig-headedness has placed a boulder in the path to a state budget — a budget which was due a month ago.

The motivation behind that stalwart opposition? Cheap smokes.

Politicians like Rep. Dewey Hill, D-Columbus, worry that stores in border districts will lose sales to South Carolina, where the cigarette tax would be lower. Then, too, North Carolina is the No. 1 tobacco producer in the nation. The world’s second largest tobacco company is headquartered here.

Yet that shouldn’t matter. Cigarettes kill. We all know that by now. That kind of product should not have a free ride.

Consider these numbers from the Centers for Disease Control:

• 26.1 percent of adults in the Tar Heel state smoke, and each year 11,500 die as a direct result of smoking.

• Annual health care costs in North Carolina from tobacco exceed $1.9 billion.

• Each year 25,800 kids here light up for the first time.

• More than 200,000 Tar Heel kids who smoke today will die prematurely as adults.

Consider, too, that the CDC has determined increasing the cost of a cigarette pack above $2.50, including taxes, would lower consumption about 9 percent. Studies also found evidence higher cigarette prices discourage teens from experimenting and becoming regular, addicted smokers.

Thirty-five cents per pack is not enough to be effective. Twenty-five cents a pack is disgraceful. This may be the state tobacco built, but that doesn’t mean its cigarette tax should remain the lowest in the nation.

If you agree, call the "no more than a quarter" contingent in the state House and tell them when they dig in their heels, it should be on principle, not in support of cheap smokes.

Call the Culprits

The Observer confirmed the names of the following Democrats in the state House holding the budget hostage for cheap smokes:

Nelson Cole of Reidsville, (919) 733-5779; Edith Warren of Pitt County, (919) 715-3023; Ed Nye of Bladen County (919) 715-5815; Dewey Hill of Columbus County (919) 733-5830; Doug Faison of Durham County (919) 715-3019; W.A. Wilkins of Person County, (919) 733-2559 and Russell Tucker of Duplin County, (919) 715-3021. Call them and urge them to increase the cigarette tax more than 25 cents.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 29th, 2005 at 5:56 am and is filed under Daily News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.