CIGARETTE TAX – Here’s 10% of your Budget Shortfall

Did you know:

• In polls taken over the past year 72% of Texans identified the cigarette tax as the preferred way to address a state budget shortfall. (poll conducted by Market Strategies, Inc.*)

• 62% of voters from all political parties say they prefer a candidate who supports a cigarette tax. (poll conducted by Market Strategies, Inc.*)

• In every state that has raised cigarette taxes, consumption has declined and tax revenue has increased.

• As smoking declines, so will related health care costs and their burden on the state budget.

• A $1 per pack increase in the cigarette user fee would generate $1.5 billion in new revenue during the next biennium. (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)

• A cigarette tax is a user fee paid only by those who smoke.

Governor Mark Schweiker (R-PA): “As a Republican leader who’s worked hard to cut taxes, standing in front of 12 million Pennsylvanians and proposing a tax increase is new for me. But this increase will not only keep cigarettes out of the hands of children and save lives; it will go a long, long way toward helping us deal with the most significant fiscal dilemma this state has faced in years.” [Associated Press, June 6, 2002)]

*The survey was conducted by the Republican polling firm Market Strategies, Inc.  The statewide poll has a random sample of 500 registered Texas voters and was conducted May 16 to May 19, 2002.  The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.