NEWS RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Denise Billings
Media Advocacy Specialist
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
615-483-0201
denise.billings@cancer.org
73 Percent of Louisiana Voters Favor $1.05 Tobacco Tax Increase to Fund
Health Care Programs
Tobacco tax would bring in more than $230 million in new revenue, reduce youth smoking
Baton Rouge, Louis. (April 15, 2013)— As the Legislature works to address a significant
budget shortfall, a new poll released today shows that 73 percent of Louisiana voters support
raising the tobacco tax by $1.05 per pack to help fund health care programs, including programs
to reduce tobacco use. Just 25 percent of voters oppose increasing the tobacco tax.
This support comes from a broad-based coalition of voters, including 74 percent of Republicans,
71 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of independents. In addition, voters from across the state
and across virtually every demographic group support the tobacco tax increase.
“Now is the time for legislators to listen to the large majority of Louisiana voters who want to
raise the tobacco tax to prevent cuts to critical programs and help balance the state budget. These
results show that, regardless of party, voters across Louisiana understand raising the tobacco tax
is a smart way to address the budget shortfall and protect our kids from tobacco,” said Andrew
Muhl, Louisiana Government Relations Director, American Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network. “Raising the tobacco tax is a WIN, WIN for Louisiana.”
The statewide survey of 500 likely voters was released by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free
Louisiana, a broad coalition of health organizations across the state including the American
Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung
Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The poll was funded by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation.
The poll found that Louisiana voters strongly prefer the tobacco tax over other options for
addressing the state's budget shortfall. When presented with a list of options for helping the state
balance the budget, two-thirds of voters support increasing the tobacco tax for this purpose,
while a majority opposed all other options tested, including increasing sales and gasoline taxes or
reducing funding for health care, higher education or Medicaid services.
In addition to supporting raising the tobacco tax, the survey also found among Louisiana voters:
 69 percent are more likely to support a candidate who favors the tobacco tax increase.
 80 percent support increasing the tax on other tobacco products so those products are
taxed at a rate comparable to cigarettes.
The poll also found that funding health care programs is voters’ preferred way to utilize new
tobacco tax revenue. At least two-thirds of Louisiana voters favor dedicating this revenue to
funding health care initiatives, including cancer research (86 percent), programs to reduce
tobacco use among kids (80 percent), Medicaid (76 percent) and preventing cuts to health care
programs (68 percent). A majority of voters (62 percent) would also support dedicating some
revenue from a tobacco tax increase to reducing the state budget shortfall.
Louisiana’s current cigarette tax is 36 cents per pack, which ranks 49th in the nation and is well
below the state average of $1.48 per pack. Increasing the tobacco tax by $1.05 per pack would
raise more than $230 million in new revenue each year.
The tobacco tax increase would also:
 Prevent 37,600 Louisiana kids from becoming smokers.
 Save 23,000 state residents from premature, smoking-caused deaths.
 Save more than $1.45 billion in long-term tobacco-related health care costs.
These health benefits would be even greater if some portion of the tax is used to fund tobacco
prevention and cessation programs, which are underfunded in Louisiana.
Full poll results are available at:
http://www.acscan.org/action/la/campaigns/httpwwwacscanorgpetitionlatobaccotax/
The survey was conducted by landline and cell phone, using live interviewers, April 7-9, 2013
among a random sample of 500 likely 2014 general election voters statewide. To assure data are
representative of the voting population, results were checked against statewide voter statistics
and weighted by key demographics, when necessary. The overall sampling error is plus or minus
4.38% at the 95% confidence level. The survey was conducted by the polling firm Public Opinion
Strategies. Complete methodological information is available upon request by contacting the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids at nveatch@tobaccofreekids.org.
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