Des Moines Register
02/06/06
Pro: Boost tax to cut smoking, save healthcare costs, lives
By JOSEPH MURPHY
SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
As a student in the state of Iowa, I support an increase in the tobacco tax, and I
am not the only one. Many students across the state support the initiative to
increase the tobacco tax based solely on the health impact that such an increase
will have.
Student governments at the University of Northern Iowa and at Iowa State
University have passed resolutions supporting an increase. High school and
college students rallied at the capitol last month to make their views known to
legislators.
A death from a smoking-related illness is the No. 1 most preventable death.
Simply put, if people would stop smoking, they would drastically improve their
chances of living into their senior years. Purchasing cigarettes is price-elastic, so
increasing the price of cigarettes is the best deterrent against smoking. As the
price increases, the demand and consumption of cigarettes will decrease. It's
estimated that if the tobacco tax is increased by $1, youth smoking would be
reduced by 19.3 percent.
Coupled with the health side of the issue is the negative impact that smoking has
on Iowa's economy because of smoking-related illnesses and lower productivity.
Consider these statistics from the Iowa Department of Public Health:
• Currently, Iowa has $277 million in Medicaid costs stemming from tobaccorelated illnesses, while the state receives only $87 million in revenue from the
current cigarette tax of 36 cents a pack.
• Smoking costs the Iowa economy $919 million in lost productivity annually.
• Twenty percent of high school students and 7 percent of middle-school students
are smokers.
• Iowa's tobacco tax of 36 cents ranks 42nd out of 50 states. It has not been
increased since I was in third grade, back in 1991.
• It is estimated that 65,900 youth smokers alive today in Iowa will die
prematurely from smoking.
• If the tobacco tax is increased by $1, 12,700 Iowa children alive today will be
saved from a premature smoking-related death.
The tobacco tax should not be a partisan issue as it is currently being played out
in the Iowa General Assembly. The tax should be about the youth of Iowa and
their health as future leaders of the state.
Students have an obligation to actively voice their support for this health initiative
for the sake of Iowa and their future as Iowa citizens.
JOSEPH MURPHY, a senior economics major from Cedar Rapids, is president
of the Northern Iowa Student Government.