Tie cigarette tax to health
Legislature should increase paltry cigarette tax and funnel money to health care
Editorial, published The Tennessean, April 2, 2006

The General Assembly should look favorably on a substantial increase in the cigarette tax, with revenues generated from the increase going toward health-related issues.

The legislature has done a woeful job of handling tobacco money in general, evidenced by its funneling of funds from the heralded settlement with tobacco companies to expenses that have had nothing to do with tobacco-related illnesses.

Tennessee has a low 20-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes. One bill sponsored by Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville, would raise tobacco taxes by 71 cents. The increase would produce an estimated $345 million per year, with $100 million of that going toward health care. Kurita says the money raised from higher tobacco taxes could be used for programs such as community-based care and to ease hardships on those disenrolled from TennCare. She says other funds could go toward reducing sales taxes on food.

A separate bill in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, would increase the cigarette tax by 43 cents, raising an estimated $227 million. Jackson says the entire amount of money raised would go toward a reduction in the sales tax on food by cutting the current 6% food sales tax to 3%.

A similar bill in the House also would be used to lower to state sales tax on food.

Gov. Phil Bredesen mentioned a cigarette increase as one possible funding option as the state explores ways to provide access to health coverage for the poor. Some lawmakers have questioned the estimates on how much revenue the increases in cigarette taxes would raise.

The needs are clear. Tennessee should want to decrease the sales tax on food, but such a change would have to be accompanied by a steady, reliable revenue stream. Proposals for raising the tax on cigarettes should come with plans that tie those funds to health care in some form. That's the more logical, direct approach. It's time Tennessee devoted whatever funds derived from tobacco toward making Tennesseans healthier.

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