Clear the Air

The issue of increasing West Virginia’s tobacco excise tax is making headlines again as part of the race for Governor. The Charleston Gazette-Mail today printed responses from Democratic candidates on a host of issues, including tobacco taxes, in an article by Alison Knezevich.

According to The Gazette-Mail article:

“West Virginia has the nation’s highest smoking rate. In the past few years, some state lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed to raise the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products in an effort to decrease tobacco usage.

Kessler and Perdue were the only candidates to say they would raise the tobacco tax, which is one of the lowest in the United States.

Kessler said he would use tobacco-tax revenues for health and anti-drug initiatives. Those would include community-based substance abuse programs, expansion of drug courts and day-report centers with random drug testing, and primary health-care centers.

With the state Medicaid rolls set to grow because of federal health-care reform, Perdue said he likely would use the money for that program, which provides health coverage for the poor and disabled.

Other candidates said they would not raise taxes at this time.”

Some may recall that Acting Senate President Jeff Kessler was co-sponsor of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia supported legislation to increase the tobacco tax by one dollar per pack in the 2011 legislative session.

The Primary Election for the unexpired term of Governor will be held on May 14th. You can read all of the answers by the Democratic candidates to the 10 questions posed by The Charleston Gazette here.

Please take the time to learn the candidates positions on the critical issues facing, like tobacco control efforts and health care, and make sure to vote on May 14th!

CNBC reports today that the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has sent Acting Governor Tomblin a letter stating:

“West Virginia legislators will soon consider Senate Bill 362 and House Bill 2973, which would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from 55 cents to $1.55 and the tax on smokeless tobacco from 7 percent to 50 percent of the wholesale price of each item. On behalf of the 5,894 members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) in the state of West Virginia, I urge you to veto any bill that increases state excise taxes and instead focus your efforts on cutting wasteful and unnecessary spending from the state budget.”

However, CCAGW has recieved large amounts of funding from the tobacco industry. The St. Petersburg Times reported that CCAGW got at least $245,000 from the tobacco industry and subsequently lobbied on its behalf.

Throughout its history, CCAGW has been accused of fronting lobbying efforts of corporations to give them the appearance of “grassroots” support.

A Senate Finance Committee investigating ties between CCAGW and other non-profits and lobbyist-turned-convict Jack Abramoff in 2006 stated in a report that the groups had ”probably violated their tax-exempt status by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff’s direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff’s clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff’s clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff’s clients.”

News of CCAGW’s letter to Acting Governor Tomblin came on the same day the Associated Press reported that Tomblin spokesperson Jacqueline Proctor said that now may not be time for a tobacco tax increase.

Please contact Acting Governor Tomblin’s office at 304-558-2000 or toll-free at 1-888-438-2731 and urge him to stand with West Virginians - not with out-of-state special interest groups - by SUPPORTING the tobacco tax increase this year.

You can also directly email Acting Governor Tomblin from here.

Legislation to increase West Virginia’s excise tax on tobacco products is currently awaiting action in both the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee and the  House  Health and Human Resources Committee.

This legislation calls for increasing West Virginia’s tax on cigarettes by $1.00 per pack to $1.55 and also increase the tax on other tobacco products (cigars, snuff, snus, etc.) to 50 percent of the wholesale price of the product.

As introduced, these bills also call for dedicating $27 million to tobacco prevention and education programs as recommended for West Virginia by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids ,  studies and experience in state after state show that higher cigarette taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking among both youth and adults. Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent.

Passage of the proposed increase in West Virginia would result in 19,100 young people being saved from becoming lifetime smokers, 13,100 current adult tobacco users would quit and 9,500 premature dealth from tobacco-related illnesses would be prevented.

Legislators need to hear from their constituents that they should support this legislation this year!

The tobacco tax legislation is likely to be worked on the Senate side first and it is important that you contact  Senate Health and Human Resources Committee members NOW and ask that they support SB-362.

Contact information for Senate HHR Committee members is as follows:

Senator Ron Stollings - Chair - (304) 357-7939 - ron.stollings@frontier.com

Senator Dan Foster - Vice-Chair - (304) 357-7866 - daniel.foster@camc.org

Senator Truman Chafin - (304) 357-7808 - truman.chafin@wvsenate.gov

Senator Evan Jenkins - (304) 357-7956 - evan.jenkins@wvsenate.gov

Senator William Laird - (304) 357-7849 - william.laird@wvsenate.gov

Senator Ronald Miller - (304) 357-7959 - ronald.miller@wvsenate.gov

Senator Corey Palumbo - (304) 357-7880 - corey.palumbo@wvsenate.gov

Senator Roman Prezioso - (304) 357-7961 - roman.prezioso@wvsenate.gov

Senator Gregory Tucker - (304) 357-7906 - greg.tucker@wvsenate.gov

Senator Mark Wills - (304) 357-7843 - mark.wills@wvsenate.gov

Senator Jack Yost - (304) 357-7984 - jack.yost@wvsenate.gov

Senator Donna Boley - (304) 357-7905 - donnaboley@suddenlink.net

Senator Mike Hall - (304) 357-7901 - delegate200@hotmail.com

Make your voice heard and call or email these legislators TODAY and urge their support of SB-362!

Bills have been introduced in the West Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates to increase West Virginia’s excise tax on tobacco with a portion of the proceeds directed to tobacco control and other health-related programs.

SB-362 was introduced in the Senate by Senators Roman Prezioso, Dan Foster, Brooks McCabe and Acting Senate President Jeff Kessler and a companion bill, HB-2973, was introduced in the House by Delegates Delegates Don Perdue, Charlene Marshall, Barbara Hatfield and Nancy Peoples Guthrie.

Both bills call for increasing West Virginia excise tax on cigarettes by $1.00 to $1.55 per pack and the tax on other tobacco products from the current level of 7% of the wholesale price to 50% of the wholesale price.  The proposed legislation would also direct one-half of the tobacco tax revenues, up to $60 million, into a new fund to be known as the “West Virginia Healthy Future Fund”.  $27 million from the Fund would be transferred annually for tobacco prevention and eduction programs and the balance of the Fund each year would directed to public health, substance abuse or healthcare-related programs. Revenues beyond what is placed in the Fund would go to General Revenue.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids this legislation, if enacted, would generate nearly $160 million in total revenue and would result in a 15.4% reduction in youth smoking and 13,100 current adult tobacco users quitting.  In addition, West Virginia would see a long-term health savings of $458.7 million from these declines.

SB-362 has been referred to the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee and the to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.

HB-2973 has been referred to the House Health and Human Resources Committee and the to the House Finance Committee.

 
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) requires that cigarette packages and advertisements have larger and more visible graphic health warnings.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule, Required Warnings for Cigarette Packages and Advertisements, proposing to modify the required warnings that appear on cigarette packages and in cigarette advertisements. These new required warnings would consist of nine new textual warning statements accompanied by color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking.

Timeline for Final Regulations
The Tobacco Control Act requires FDA to issue final regulations requiring these color graphics by June 22, 2011. It also specifies that the requirement for the new health warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements will take effect 15 months after issuance of this final rule.

View the Proposed Graphic Warning Images:
PDF format (PDF 13 MB) The PDF contains a composite of all of the proposed images.

JPEG format (6 MB) The zipped folder contains all of the compressed images.

Placement Location on Cigarette Packages
The Tobacco Control Act requires that the nine graphic health warnings appear on the upper portion of the front and rear panels of each cigarette package and comprise at least the top 50 percent of these panels.

Placement Location on Cigarette Advertisement
It also requires that they appear in each cigarette advertisement, and occupy at least 20 percent of the advertisement. For advertisements with a surface area less than 12 square inches, the proposed rule provides a subset of proposed color graphics to accompany the nine textual warning statements.

Public Comment
FDA is seeking public comment on the proposed rule from Friday, November 12, 2010 through Tuesday, January 11, 2011. To submit an official comment during this time period:

• Go to www.regulations.gov and insert docket number FDA-2010-N-0568 into the “search” box and follow the prompts.
• Send a fax, with your comments, to 301-827-6870.
• Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions) to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

All comments should be identified by Docket ID No. FDA-2010-N-0568. It is only necessary to send one set of comments.

Chuck Hamsher, CTFWV spokesperson and Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association, discussed raising West Virginia’s tobacco tax with former-Senator Bobbie Nelson on WRVC Radio in Huntington on Wednesday.

Listen to this via podcast by clicking here.

Percent decrease in youth smoking ~ 10.7%
Kids in West Virginia kept from becoming addicted adult smokers ~ 13,200
Current adult smokers in the state who would quit ~ 9,200
Smoking-affected births avoided over next five years ~ 2,700
West Virginia residents saved from premature smoking-caused death ~ 6,600
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-affected pregnancies & births ~ $4.6 million
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-caused heart attacks & strokes ~ $6.1 million
Long-term health savings in state from adult & youth smoking declines ~ $318.4 million

Projections are based on research findings that each 10% cigarette price increase reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5%, adult rates by 2%, and total consumption by 4% (but adjusted down to account for tax evasion effects). Revenues still increase because the higher tax rate per pack will bring in more new revenue than is lost from the tax-related drop in total pack sales. These projections are fiscally conservative because they include a generous adjustment for lost state pack sales (and lower net new revenues) from new smuggling and tax evasion after the rate increase and from fewer sales to smokers or smugglers from other states. Kids stopped from smoking and dying are from all kids alive today. Long-term savings accrue over the lifetimes of persons who stop smoking or never start because of the rate increase. All cost and savings amounts are in 2004 dollars.

Tags: tobacco control, tobacco tax, West Virginia