Holy smokes! Lawmaker proposes increasing state tax to $2.50-a-pack

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A Republican lawmaker wants to increase the state cigarette tax to $2.50 a pack.

The proposal would deter thousands of young people from taking up the smoking habit and raise $300 million for health care, Rep. Rodney Tom of Medina said today.

His plan, which will be scheduled for a hearing by the House Finance Committee, would boost the cigarette tax by more than a dollar from the current $1.425 per pack. The latter rate was set by the voters in 2001, when the rate was boosted 60 cents a pack to expand the state's subsidized health coverage for the working poor.

The new rate would put the state tax at $25 a carton, the highest rate in the nation.

A pack of Marlboros was selling for $4.89 at the Tumwater Safeway today, or nearly $50 a carton.

Tom hopes that jacking up the tax will significantly reduce smoking, especially among youth, and that the state will be able to hold down tobacco-related health care costs. He said experts calculate that each pack of cigarettes generates $12.70 in health costs.

"It's time to stop subsidizing the effects of cigarettes so we can direct more resources for priorities like education," he said. "If we can significantly reduce the numbers of smokers through this measure, especially youth, it will be good for everyone."

He estimates that his plan would stop 61,000 youth from taking up the habit and prompt 37,000 adults to stop.

"It's a double win — we bring in $300 million in new revenue and save over $1 billion in future health care costs," he said in an interview today.

Tobacco use has a devastating impact on citizens and the state budget, he said.

"If we want to get a handle on our health care costs, we need to focus on prevention and look at things like smoking and obesity."

Tom said the tax plan is a fair way to recoup some of the costs government has to pay for tobacco-related illness. He would earmark 83 percent of the new revenue to the state's Health Services Account and the rest to the Youth Tobacco Prevention Account.

He conceded that some of his fellow Republicans have given him flak for sponsoring the bill. But he said his 48th District constituents, even many of the smokers, are encouraging him to pursue his plan.

Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup, an intensive care and coronary care nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, said she's intrigued by the idea of a mega-increase in the tax. She said she can usually spot a patient who has smoked.

"Being on a ventilator (with end-stage disease) is incredibly expensive and is a human tragedy," she said.

But she said smokers will be furious if lawmakers approve an increase like Tom has in mind.

House Finance Chairman Jim McIntire, D-Seattle, didn't take a position on the bill, but said he's glad Tom has proposed it.

"It will provoke the kind of discussion we should have about tobacco," he said. "What would this do to hasten the demise of consumption of tobacco and what would it mean to our ability to finance health care on a base that is shrinking?"

As tobacco taxes rise, consumption softens and more people get their smokes online or buy them in other states, said Department of Revenue spokesman Mike Gowrylow.

The 60-cent hike in 2001, mandated by voter-approved Initiative 773, was supposed to go to expansion of the Basic Health Plan. Lawmakers later grabbed the money to pay for the current enrollment in the plan, not for increased slots.

The American Lung Association of Washington embraced Tom's bill today.

"We are supportive of the bill because it would address smoking by youths," said spokesman Paul Payton. "The average age of first-time tobacco users is 12. Cost is definitely a big contributor to whether they make the decision to start smoking."

He said a study conducted for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids showed that for every 10 percent increase in price, youth smoking declines by 7 percent and overall cigarette use drops by 3 percent to 5 percent.

Payton said 11 states boosted their tax last year, with Michigan going to $2, New Jersey to $2.40 and Rhode Island to $2.46.

Jamie Drogin of Philip Morris USA said the proposed Washington increase is excessive, unfair and bad fiscal policy.

"What we have seen from many other states is a decrease in legitimate sales and a subsequent increase in contraband sales," she said in an interview. "This will have a negative impact on Washington retailers, and on the state. They will not collect the revenue they expect."

The tobacco industry is declining and its poor fiscal policy to use tobacco taxes to pay for a rapidly increasing state cost like health care, she said.