HOW CIGARETTES CAN HELP TEXAS
By Texas State Senators Bill Ratliff and Jeff Wentworth

The only bill the Texas Legislature is required to pass each session is a balanced state budget.  This legislative session, our colleagues and we will fulfill this duty.  But this budget won’t be one we will brag about. The results won’t be pretty.

Challenged to overcome a $9.9 billion revenue shortfall – which could grow higher still – both the House and Senate have already passed spending plans that include deep cuts to vital programs and services. We voted for the Senate bill because it was not as extreme as the House’s version. Now a joint conference committee will try to hammer out the differences.
When the committee is finished, we will know how Texans will actually fare over the next two years.

Much has been said about cuts in programs and services that aid children, elderly, pregnant women and the disabled.  But these individuals aren’t the only ones who will suffer if Texas continues to slash spending.  All Texans will feel the impact.  Proposed budget cuts also mean reduced teacher health care benefits, loss of jobs for state employees, decreases in the number of child abuse investigators and fewer new textbooks in the classroom. And more.
At some point, we must say “enough.”

For us, that time is now. We urge our colleagues in the Legislature to stop looking for more cuts that would harm Texans and start looking at new ways to raise revenue.
We see the cigarette tax as a user fee – if you don’t smoke, you don’t pay it. Our Comptroller estimates that increasing our 41-cent cigarette tax by $1 per pack would bring in $1.5 billion in new revenue for the two-year biennium, about 15 percent of the shortfall we now need to erase.

But, because higher cigarette prices spur some smokers to quit, our state would recover even more money.  For too long, all Texas taxpayers have been unfairly burdened with about $1.26 billion in annual Medicaid costs linked to smoking-related illnesses. If the number of smokers drops, these costs would drop, too.

Experience in other states shows that higher cigarette taxes are a no-lose proposition. Smoking declined and revenue grew in all 17 states that raised cigarette taxes between 1995 and 2000. Tax collections actually exceeded official predictions in most cases.

We also see a cigarette user fee increase as another way the Legislature can show its commitment to our children. Not only will more expensive cigarettes prompt adult smokers to stop, but they will keep our impressionable youth from ever developing this deadly addiction. Just a $1 per pack increase could keep as many as 291,800 kids off of cigarettes, some estimates show.  And just 5 cents of each $1 per pack increase could keep more youth away from cigarettes by funding smoking cessation and prevention programs across the state. Texas’ tobacco control programs have been woefully underfunded.

If Texas turns to a cigarette tax increase to help solve state budget problems, it would hardly be alone. Last year, 21 states raised their cigarette fees.  Increases passed by five other states take effect this year.

What do these states have in common?  Some are led by Democrats, others by Republicans.  But, in each case, concerns for the state’s physical and fiscal health outweighed concerns about the consequences of raising a tax.

In Texas, any fears that voters would retaliate at the ballot box appear to be unfounded.  Texans – who elected us and our 29 colleagues – have said overwhelmingly in four polls over the past year that they would support a cigarette tax increase.  The idea has received broad-based support across economic, gender and political party lines. In one survey, even a majority of smokers said they would willingly pay more for cigarettes if part of the increase were used for smoking prevention programs or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 

In the only poll solely targeting Republican primary voters, released in April, 72.6 percent said they would support a $1 user fee on each pack of cigarettes to help the Legislature solve the budget shortfall by generating much-needed funds for critical education, healthcare and other human services.  In addition, 60.1 percent of those polled say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for public office who supported a $1 tobacco user fee.

Legislators are charged with listening to their constituents.  And Texans have spoken. They want a government that meets their needs.  To do that, we need to find more money, not make more cuts. We should consider adding a cigarette user fee increase to our revenue-raising search.

-- ## --

Senator Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, represents District 25. He is vice chairman of the Senate Government Organization Committee. Senator Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, represents Senate District 1. He is chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee and formerly served as Lieutenant Governor.