December 14, 2005
Smokers Catch NO Breaks…
Calif. Coalition Seeks Cigarette Tax Hike
A coalition of health organizations wants to quadruple the tax on a pack of cigarettes in California to boost funding for a variety of health programs.
The per-pack tax would jump by $2.60 under an initiative the coalition hopes to place on the November 2006 ballot, supporters said Tuesday. If voters approve the proposal, California’s total tax on a pack of cigarettes would rise to $3.47, the highest in the nation.
The initiative combines tobacco tax measures from the California Hospital Association and the American Cancer Society. The new campaign includes the American Lung Association of California, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, among others.
Revenue from the higher tax would be directed to various health programs, including cancer screening, prevention and research, low-cost children’s insurance, and tobacco education and cessation.
Someone wants to slap a 3% sales tax on fast food, and the world is in an uproar. Someone wants to slap a 250% sales tax on cigarettes, and that’s just normal news. In my earlier post, one commentor asked why companies are firing smokers but not fat people, well here’s your answer.
2 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Brad, Kind of an oxymoron isn’t it. Smoking tax for a Health program?
oh i got your comment, and could not agree more. this is something that PC is preventing anyone from trying to get verbal enough about to affect any real change. but your stats point out quite well that even if we get to openly call them tubs of goo, we have an uphill battle to get the healthcare industry, employers, and taxiation in line. we may get pulled under by their weight. how ironic.