Editorials - 06/13/02

Legislators should raise tobacco tax

Legislators are in Raleigh grappling with a projected $1.5 billion shortfall. Because tax increases are never popular in an election year, much of their attention has been on spending cuts.

We have no doubt that our state budget has fat that can be eliminated. However, even the most radical proponents of spending cuts would have a hard time coming up with $1.5 billion worth that won't negatively affect segments of our population.

Fortunately, we have an untapped revenue source, and it's high time our legislators opened the spigots. Bringing North Carolina's tobacco tax up to a reasonable level would bring some much-needed revenue Raleigh's way.

We think the Golden Leaf has been off limits for too long. The Tar Heel State's cigarette tax of 5 cents per pack is the third-lowest in the nation - only Kentucky (3 cents) and Virginia (2.5 cents) are lower.

Tobacco is no longer the cornerstone of our state's economy. That's hard to believe given the way some legislators still revere the product. We find their viewpoint particularly puzzling in light of polls that consistently show overwhelming support for a cigarette tax hike.

Five states have already raised cigarette taxes this year, and 23 more are looking at the possibility. North Carolina needs to follow suit; if we don't, other tax increases or spending cuts will hit our citizens hard.

Increasing the tax by 50 cents per pack would raise an estimated $393 million, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. That figure takes into account a potential decrease in smoking by those not willing to pay a higher price.

And such an increase wouldn't put North Carolina anywhere near the top of state cigarette taxes. Six already have taxes of $1 or more per pack, and others will likely reach that level soon.

A side benefit of a tax increase would be a probable reduction in teen smoking. According to the CDCP, high school smoking rates are at their lowest level in decades, and higher taxes are considered a key factor in that decline.

If another reason for supporting a tobacco tax increase is needed, look no farther than Charlotte. One person there has pleaded guilty and two more are on trial in federal court on charges of smuggling cigarettes from North Carolina and selling them for profit in high tax states.

That's been going on for years, but this case has a new twist. Prosecutors say smuggling profits went to Hezbollah, a Lebanese national group the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization with a cell in Charlotte.

That's another way our country has changed since Sept. 11.

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