One of the country’s leading causes of lung cancer is cigarette smoking or exposure to the noxious second-hand smoke. It is also considered as one of the activities that are detrimental to one’s health. It renders various health problems to people and its threat is growing, affecting even the non-smokers through the exposure to the second-hand smoke. Moreover, smoking is believed to kill hundreds of lives each year due to its direct effects. Tobaccos largely contribute to various cancers, making them the silent killers of the contemporary society. A cigarette contains mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide that increases the blood pressure and hastens the heart rate, straining the heart and blood pathways (“Harmful Effects of Smoking,” 2007).
The problems posed by smoking in society extend even to the non-smokers. Th
...e term passive smoking means that the exhaled noxious smoke from the cigarette is inhaled by another person. Individuals who are directly exposed to second-hand smoke are more at risk than the people who smoke in terms of the health problems that can be acquired in relation to smoking (Johnson, 2007).
In an attempt to lessen the number of smokers and to resolve the current dilemma, the government has proposed an increase on the taxes imposed to tobacco companies in order to discourage the consumers in purchasing cigarettes. In this way, the number of people using cigarettes and suffering from health problems brought by cigarettes would decrease (Scott, 2002).
Various proposals are made in attempt to raise the cigarette taxes. Over twenty of the U.S. federal states and a few cities are trying to raise the excise tax of th
tobacco industry. Some of the states have successfully passed a law that increases the cigarette taxes. For instance, Washington taxes a pack of cigarette of $1.425 at present. This proposal got the approval of the constituents in a voting last November 2001. Because of the high amount of tax, the price of a pack of cigarette in Washington amounts to $5. At least six states are taxing the cigarette industry of over $1 per pack (Scott, 2002).
The main purpose of the increase on the tobacco excise tax is to decrease the proliferation of the product, to discourage the consumers from buying such products, and to decrease the health dilemmas associated with smoking. Thus, it would be interesting to observe the impact of raising the tax on tobacco for smokers and non-smokers alike. Hence, this paper aims to describe the benefits and downside of the increase in tobacco excise tax on smokers and non-smokers.
Smoking and its Effects
To be able to justify the actions taken by the government, it is better to understand first the enormity and prevalence of the smoking problems and how they destroy the health of the people and end their lives. Smoking is considered as one of the most preventable causes of premature death worldwide. Approximately 438,000 lives are taken by smoking each year. This number includes the people who are indirectly affected by smoking such as the babies who died prematurely due to their mother’s smoking and the people affected by second-hand smoke. Moreover, the United States government spends over $167 billion each year in healthcare, inclusive of the $92 billion in mortality-related productivity. The government
loses $75 billion in medical expenses for smoking-related diseases (“Smoking 101 Fact Sheet,” 2007).
Recent important facts pertaining to smoking are made known to the public to further discourage people who smoke. A cigarette is believed to contain over 4,800 chemicals, and 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer. Smoking is the main cause of the 90 percent of deaths due to lung cancer and the 80-90 percent of deaths due to COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis). It is estimated that around 8.6 million of the American population acquired at least one disease due to smoking or due to exposure to second-hand smoke. Furthermore, in 2005, an approximately 45.1 million or 21 percent of American adults were smokers (“Smoking 101 Fact Sheet”, 2007).
Various diseases are associated with smoking. Smoking is one of the causes of premature aging. It is also one of the main causes of lung cancers and other lung-related diseases. It increases the person’s risk to a variety of cancers such as lung, bladder, and cervical cancer. Smoking is also a major factor of the development of various coronary ailments. It increases a person’s blood pressure and makes a person vulnerable to heart illnesses and stroke. Pregnant women are also at great risk due to smoking. They have a greater tendency to have miscarriage and stillbirth. The infant may have birth defects due to maternal smoking (“Harmful Effects of Smoking,” 2007). In addition, smoking may also be responsible to the malignancies of the body. It is also linked to other disorders and conditions which include gradual healing of wounds, sterility, and peptic ulcer (“Smoking 101 Fact Sheet,” 2007).
style="text-align: justify;">Increase Cigarette Taxation
The different states are looking for various ways to minimize the effects and the frequency of smoking. Increasing the excise tax has always been one of the options. However, due to the overwhelming opposition of some groups or lack of firmness of the law, many states stay as smoking cities (Kazalia, 2008).
Nevertheless, despite the opposition made, there are some states that successfully increased tobacco excise tax and made it into a law. The proposal won due to the approval of the members of the community who desire to increase the tobacco excise tax. Various disapproval and opposition disagree to the motion, but in some states, the law prevailed (Kazalia, 2008).
One of the reasons behind the proposal to increase tax for cigarettes is to protect people who are directly exposed to second-hand smoke. This serious case is often neglected by tobacco companies, and the profit motive still prevails. Upon imposing the increase in tax for cigarettes, people will be discouraged to purchase cigarettes due to high price because the tobacco companies will eventually pass the burdens to the consumers (Kazalia, 2008).
Another reason for increasing the taxes is that the legal actions taken against tobacco companies were proven to be ineffective. Furthermore, attempts to educate the public on the hazards of smoking seem to fail and render gradual effects in the prevention of smoking among people. A stricter law must be implemented to prevent the public in breaking the law. The prevention of further detrimental effects mainly lies on the interest of the public health to castigate people in smoking and inhaling noxious second-hand smoke (Kazalia,
2008).
The idea of raising the cigarette taxes is also to boost the government’s revenues. Sin taxes are the least-like taxes, and many nonsmokers would not really care when it increases. In some states, it gathers an overwhelming support from various sectors (Scott, 2002).
Advantages of Increasing the Cigarette Taxes
Every policy has its advantages, and people eventually gain benefits from the policy imposed. Raising the cigarette taxes will render positive results in different aspects of society. First, the cigarette tax is classified under the sin taxes which are put into products that are deemed undesirable to the general public. Sin taxes are applied to cigarettes and liquors. This type of tax can be utilized in building some public amenities (Carmody, 2004).
Increasing the sin taxes is appealing to the public than increasing the other types of taxes. The sectors that are in favor of eradicating the bad habits of people most likely agree on the policy (Carmody, 2004). The main purpose of the government in raising the taxes for the cigarettes is to also increase the revenue of the government obtained from taxes. Some of the government projects are funded by sin taxes, one of which is from the cigarette taxes. If there is an increase in the taxes collected by the government, more funds can be allocated in generating more projects that the public will eventually benefit from (Carmody, 2004).
Each state aims to impose a higher tax on tobacco for different reasons. For example, in Texas, sin taxes are applied to pollution due to the prevalence of smokers in the states. The idea received approval from the community
members. The pollution tax was established to build public schools and other educational projects (Carmody, 2004). Moreover, reducing the number of smokers through the imposition of the policy will have a chain reaction on the environmental aspect of the nation wherein the air pollution will eventually decrease. Meanwhile, in 2006, the state of Wisconsin found a way to sustain its residents’ healthcare through the increase of cigarette taxes. An increase of $1 per pack of cigarette will extend help to over 61,000 people in terms state-supported insurance (Forster, 2006).
Another advantage and benefit that will be acquired in the imposition of the higher tax for cigarettes is the drastic decrease on the number of smokers. There is strong evidence that higher taxes imposed would reduce tobacco users, especially the youth and young adults. Since smoking is also associated with the various diseases and other health problems nowadays, higher taxes is an approach in improving the nation’s public health (Rabin & Sugarman, 2001).
Many health benefits can be acquired from increasing cigarette taxes. There are various estimations of the extent of the impact in relation to the price range of cigarettes in different proposals for national tobacco legislation. It is estimated that an increase of $1.50 in federal taxes will dramatically decrease the total cigarette consumption by 30 percent and reduce to almost half the number of young people who are smoking (Rabin & Sugarman, 2001).
Increasing the taxes will also greatly help in reducing the death toll due to smoking. Utilizing the annual death rate from smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer and other cardiovascular diseases, it is estimated that an increase of 10%
on the cigarette taxes will save around 5,000 lives each year (Rabin & Sugarman, 2001).
One opposing claims that the increase will most likely hit the poor people since they are the members of the population who are most likely to smoke. However, the positive claim states that, it is the poor people who will most likely benefit from the additional revenues that will get from the tobacco excise tax. Moreover, the price increase will not be shouldered by the whole population but by only those who chose to smoke (Scott, 2002).
Disadvantages of Increasing the Cigarette Taxes
If the increase in cigarette taxes renders advantages, there will always be the other side of the coin. Every policy has negative implications on the community members. These negative implications are the opposing views claimed by those who are against the proposal.
One of the disadvantages of the increases in cigarette taxes is in line with the revenues that the government garnered from the sin taxes. Aside from the expected reduction from the smokers, the federal revenues are expected to rise by approximately 75 percent. However, the downside of the policy is that there is a tendency that the revenues will fall as the taxes rise. The people who quit smoking will have an adverse effect on the revenues collected by the government. There will be significant decrease on the taxes collected by the state in sin taxes (Mitchell, 2008).
The government may be successful in reducing the total smoking population, but it will lose taxes when the people quit smoking. Although sin taxes only amount to a small percentage in the
total collection of the state, taxes from tobacco are also utilized to fund various projects of the government.
Imposing a higher tax on tobacco would most likely result in a significant decrease in the number of smokers and the statistics of the smoking-related disease acquired by people. However, the government can develop more comprehensive programs and long-term plans without drastically affecting the income of the federal state (Mitchell, 2008).
Another significant disadvantage of the increase in cigarette taxes is related to the health problems of people. A recent finding states that smokers who try to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke due to the high cost of the cigarettes are likely to smoke more deeply and hold the smoke much longer than usual (Mitchell, 2008). This particular behavior can be accounted for the smokers’ way to compensating on the nicotine available. The body consciously or unconsciously does what it can to maintain a certain blood saturation level due to the reduced nicotine the person can only take.
This kind or way of smoking is more dangerous and puts the person at more risk in acquiring smoking-related diseases since the lungs are exposed at a longer duration to the carcinogenic ingredients of the cigarette (Mitchell, 2008). In this account, forcing the people to cut down their smoking will have the tendency to hurt them more and inflict more fatal illnesses on themselves. Consequently, the government will eventually spend more money in healthcare services.
Conclusion
Smoking has always been one of the dilemmas of the society. It is one of the main causes of various lung ailments and the culprit behind lung cancer
deaths. Smoking causes various diseases and the statistical data have always been alarming. As a result, many ways and policies are proposed in an attempt to resolve this problem. One of the proposals is to increase the tax on the cigarettes.
The option primarily aims to reduce significantly the number of smokers and reduce the health risks of the population in relation to smoking. The imposition of the policy will render both positive and negative implication on the federal state. Critics continue to claim opposing views against the policy, but the policy alone will not solve the dilemma. It should be reinforced by comprehensive education programs and effective prevention, and it should also control efforts in gradually eradicating the deadly vice.
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