Put politics aside when considering tobacco tax

Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature flirted with the idea of raising the state's tobacco tax to an even $2 per pack.

For reasons only legislative leaders know and the rest of us can speculate, the tax hike was shelved.

Now there's talk of a tobacco tax increase in the 2010 General Session, although House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, says the conservative, GOP-controlled Legislature considers tax increases a last resort means to generate revenue.

We'll see.

This issue baffles me. Utah hasn't raised its tobacco tax since 2002. Our state tax on tobacco is among the lowest in the Rocky Mountain region. Even if we raised it, it wouldn't be sufficient to force someone to hop in the car and drive to Evanston, Wyo., or Franklin, Idaho, to load up on the smokes because the taxes are cheaper, as a tobacco lobbyist told us happens elsewhere. It's hard to make that work financially when gasoline is $2.50 a gallon and rising and the state line is a good 90-minute drive for many Utahns.

What happened, in my estimation, was that state lawmakers were strong-armed by the tobacco lobby, which was bracing for the sizable increase in federal cigarette tax signed into law in February. (Some manufacturers boosted product prices beyond the tax to somewhat blunt an anticipated reduction in sales. What's a nickel more, on top of a 61.6-cent tax increase? Who would notice?)

And, I suspect, it may have been something to do with the more than $200,000 one tobacco firm, Altria, has given Utah candidates, political parties and leadership political action committees since 2003, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Some lawmakers rationalized that it was wrong-headed to raise taxes while the economy was sputtering. And others believe that a tax should be raised because of health considerations — fewer people would start smoking given the high cost, thus fewer public funds would eventually be needed to address the health-care costs associated with smoking — but not to plug holes in the state budget.

Seemingly, raising the tax would kill two birds with one stone.

I know, that's crazy talk.

Anti-tobacco groups wanted the tax raised to stop people from taking up the habit and to ensure there is sufficient funding for anti-smoking efforts in Utah. Some in those groups maintain that people who smoke may quit if it becomes too costly. Of the friends I know who have been able to kick the habit, they did so out of concern for their health or for that of their children.