Letter: Economists miss point of hiking cigarette tax
Michael LaFaive and Todd Nesbit miss the point when they argue against raising the state’s cigarette tax.
Michael LaFaive and Todd Nesbit miss the point when they argue against raising the state’s cigarette tax.
Consumers will take their spending across state lines.
Tripling the tax on a pack of cigarettes and giving it to Legislators and administrators is folly. It just gives them more money to waste
Business and health interests are calling once again for common-sense legislation to help Hoosiers quit.
A coalition of business and health professionals launched a campaign Thursday calling for Indiana lawmakers to increase the state’s cigarette tax by $2 per pack.
The move represents a major step to further push down U.S. smoking rates, which have been falling for decades.
New limitations will be placed on e-cigarettes, according to a senior FDA official, restricting sales of many popular fruit flavors amid what the health agency has called an epidemic of youth use.
New legislation introduced by longtime Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, would drastically increase taxes on cigarettes as well as raise the legal age at which Hoosiers can buy tobacco products.
The surprise move sent shares of cigarette stocks plummeting Friday morning.
A proposed $1 per-pack hike in Indiana's cigarette tax appears likely to fail for a second straight year, dismaying public health advocates.
Now the House and Senate will take the next two weeks to hash out their differences on the state spending plan.
An Indiana Senate panel on Thursday advanced a two-year state budget plan with significant differences in funding for roads, entrepreneurship and education from the House’s plan.
Indiana is consistently ranked near the bottom of the 50 states for health, a statistic made worse because too many Hoosiers smoke. The Institute of Medicine says the most reliable method to reduce tobacco use is to increase the price of tobacco products, thus encouraging cessation and reducing the number of kids who start smoking. […]
Opponents argue that raising Indiana’s cigarette tax would significantly increase sales in neighboring states. History shows that isn’t so.
Rather than lament what a current smoker stands to lose financially with a $1 cigarette tax hike, let’s examine what that smoker stands to gain.
The leader of the Indiana House says he is willing to back down at least partially on a proposed $1 cigarette tax increase.
House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown called the $31.4 billion budget an “honest appraisal of the money we have and the spending priorities we have going forward.”
Raising the cigarette tax by $1 per pack would help pay for Medicaid spending and tobacco-cessation programs—and would help patch the $300 million annual hole in the budget created by the House’s road-funding plan.
Public health officials say the increase is a proactive approach toward reducing the smoking rate and would serve as a deterrent for young people to even begin.
The measure also removes employment protections for smokers, raises the age for purchasing cigarettes to 21 and directs more money to tobacco-cessation programs.