Possible tax hike burns smokers
Sep 10, 2007, 10:06
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As the owner of a business that caters to smokers, James Ward is tired of Congress stepping on his customers as if they were a cigarette butt. “Customers can’t afford a tax increase. We are already paying so much on cigarettes and tobacco products already to where it is an insane amount,” said Ward, manager of the Smoker Friendly store in Orchard Mesa. “I just think it is unfair.” A tax proposal sponsored by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., could raise the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by 61 cents. The proposal’s intent is to raise $35 billion in five years to fund and to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a state and federal program to provide health care coverage for low-income children and pregnant women. If the measure passes, a carton that holds 10 packs of cigarettes could increase by more than $6. Local smokers already pay anywhere from $3 to $5 or more per pack. The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 68 to 31 on Aug. 3. A month earlier, a different version passed the House. The two bills are now headed for a joint Senate and House committee in an effort to pass one bill before the children’s health insurance program’s funding expires Sept. 30. “The two bills need to be reconciled,” said Kimberly Collins, spokeswoman for Sen. Smith. “So they are looking to start the conference process this month.” If the legislation is vetoed by President Bush, who has threatened to do so, it will take a two-thirds majority vote by Congress to override that veto (67 votes in the Senate and 290 in the House). In response to the smoke-snuffing doings in Washington, Smoker Friendly stores across the state banded together to send a message. Customers signed petitions urging lawmakers to quash the measure before it becomes law. Ward said his store garnered more than 1,000 signatures. Brittany Byrd, an employee of the Smoker Friendly store in Clifton’s Coronado Plaza, said her store gathered more than 2,100 signatures and still offers literature and resources for those opposed to the tax increase. Those petitions were sent to the Washington, D.C., offices of Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar and Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, she said. If the president doesn’t follow through with his threatened veto, smokers have reason to fume. “The tobacco companies gave (the federal government) millions, and they should be paying that tax, not me,” said John McDonough, a smoker and owner of John’s Electric. “This is supposed to be the United States of America. If I want to kill myself, that’s my business.” Tina Hall, a bartender at The Corral, a watering hole in the 500 block of Colorado Avenue, wonders where the attacks on smokers will stop. In addition to being the frequent target of higher taxes, smokers face limits on where they can light up. “Pretty soon they will say you can’t smoke in your car,” she said. “You can still smoke inside in China.” As tough as it is for a smoker to conquer an addiction to nicotine, it appears the taxes and other limitations are reducing the number of smokers. Colorado implemented a law banning smoking indoors in public places in July 2006, and Cathie Nicholson, tobacco program coordinator for Mesa County, acknowledged the state is likely to follow an established trend. “We do know from other states that have enacted clean-indoor-air laws you also see a reduction in the use of tobacco,” Nicholson said. That means a downturn in tobacco sales. A tax increase could reduce sales and nix revenue windfalls lawmakers were depending on to support government programs, such as the one intended to be bolstered by Sen. Smith’s proposed legislation. “If you want to raise taxes on smokers so you can fund yet another government program, I think it is a little bit dangerous,” said former state Sen. Ron Teck of Grand Junction. “Smokers right now are the pariah of the earth, and they are a very popular target right now.”
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