Apparently political contributions from tobacco companies are causing consternation in California right now:
The nation’s largest tobacco company has donated $50,000 to the Ventura County Republican Central Committee as the local party gears up to help GOP candidate Tony Strickland in what is expected to be a multimillion-dollar campaign this fall in the 19th Senate District…
The role of tobacco money in politics has long been controversial, and many candidates decline to accept contributions from the industry. However, health groups in Sacramento say the influence of tobacco money in politics is on the rise.
“There’s an alarming trend of the tobacco industry increasing its influence by ramping up its political contributions,” said Jim Knox, vice president of the American Cancer Society Action Network.
Knox noted the tobacco industry played “a major role in killing healthcare reform in California last year. They don’t issue press releases, they don’t testify at hearings, but they’re hard at work in the halls of the Capitol.” … Part of the financing of the healthcare plan was to have been a $1.75 per-pack tax increase on cigarettes.
If Californians don’t want tobacco money in political campaigns, they should stop bullying the smoking minority with exorbitant tax hikes. If they they think health care reform is an important goal, they should pay for it out of general revenues. What they shouldn’t do is bully smokers, tie their health care programs to a declining revenue stream, and act indignant when the tobacco companies fight back.
[Via Seeing the Forest.]
Related:
Boosting tobacco tax won’t serve kids’ health
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
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Okay, so what about the argument that smoking causes more health problems, thus leading to more healthcare costs. Would it not make some sense to tax unhealthy activities and use that to fund the healthcare such activities create a need for?
By any reasonable estimate, these costs are more than covered by existing taxes. Yes, smoking increases some health care costs. But by dying earlier, smokers also save state health programs from having to pay lots of other health costs that accrue in old age. If pensions are considered, they save the state even more.
So yes, health care costs could be used to justify some cigarette taxes, if you accept that socializing health care costs give you reason enough to curtail risky behavior. However, that argument only goes so far — and we’ve long since passed that point in most states.