Mississippi: More Tobacco Tax Talk
The main tax topic on last year's agenda for Mississippi lawmakers was the cigarette tax. And just as in early 2006, legislative leaders are now talking about hiking the state's relatively-low cig tax (currently 18 cents per pack) and using some of the money to cut the sales tax on groceries. As we noted earlier this year, this idea has some flaws, not least of which is that it would use a no-growth revenue source to pay for a growing tax cut.
Of course, Gov. Haley Barbour doesn't even need to work this hard to find a reason to oppose such a move: he's against tax hikes, and a cigarette tax increase is definitely a tax hike.
Mississippi editorial boards are not without entertaining opinions on this one. The Hattiesburg American argues that if Barbour were really a no-new-taxer, he would support the cigarette tax hike. Here's the logic:
If he were really against "raising anybody's taxes," he would support a tobacco tax increase that would reduce smoking and thereby reduce the growth in taxes necessary to support public health care needs.It's an interesting argument, and one that shows a good understanding of what the cig tax ought to be used for, but doesn't really give Barbour an exemption from his no-taxes pledge, for a couple of reasons. First, it doesn't work unless Mississippians respond to the tax hike by quitting smoking. For every Mississippi resident who ponies up the extra tax and keeps on puffing, the state will enjoy (horror of horrors!) a little extra tax revenue, and the extra health care costs associated with smokers will still be a burden on the state. And second, any reductions in health care costs due to smoking cessation are gonna take a few years to emerge. The idea that the state's health care costs will go down in fiscal year 2007 (or even fiscal year 2008 or 2009) due to a tax hike enacted in '07 is fanciful at best.
Having said that, the folks at the American are thinking about the uses of a cigarette tax hike in exactly the right way. If a cig tax is working right, it's discouraging a socially bad (and socially costly) behavior, and is saving the state money. That (rather than finding revenue to cut other taxes) is the right reason to advocate a cigarette tax hike.
posted by Matt G @ 9:39 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
And how is it that we can wave our flag and cry out "America the land of the free" meaning freedom in our choices and voices, but yet in the same breath say it is a good thing to pass a tax that enables people to make their own choices????? Where is that line drawn? "I don't like to smoke - so you can't, I don't like to use bad words - so you can't, I don't like to read things that offend me - you can't read things that offend ME." and on and on and on. You can't have it both ways folks, are we free or not? do we force people to conform to our standards or not, who sets the "standards" anyway? you? me? I am pretty sure everyone is going to pick "me". So "me" will become the strongest bull out there. Hummmm.... and I wonder what the flag will look like when that bull gets done redesigning it to be "exactly the right way".
Did I mention that I smoke? and live in Texas, where they just increased the Cig tax by $1.00 a pack? Bringing them to over $4.00 a pack now. I can not afford to smoke anymore, I am now being forced (definition - against my will) by the non-smokers and reformed smokers,to stop smoking. I propose we raise the tax on junk food instead, since eating junk food is very bad for your health and you just keep eating it anyway. Good thing I am around to save you from yourself. OR let's make some drugs legal and tax them!
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