Clear the Air

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

On Tuesday, an interim committee of the West Virginia Legislature will be considering legislation recommending an increase West Virginia’s tobacco excise tax on cigarettes from the current level of 55 cents per pack to the national average of $1.20 per pack.  This measure will likely be quite contentious as the legislative session proceeds with the tobacco industry lobbying hard, as they always do, to defeat any proposal which might dampen their ability to peddle a dangerous, toxic and addictive product.

Increasing West Virginia’s excise tax this year is vital to the health of our state and its citizens in two ways.

First,  raising the cost of tobacco products is a proven strategy to reduce the use in virtually every age group and demographic. 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 will reduce youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent.

Secondly, increasing the excise tax on tobacco products will generate the increased revenues needed for West Virginia to provide health coverage to more of our people and move forward implementing a host of health reforms outlined in the Roadmap to Health Report. This report, which has been a year in the making and has involved hundreds of citizens and stakeholders throughout the state, says “West Virginia spends 13 percent more per person on health care than the national average. Moreover, the growth in spending is slightly higher in West Virginia compared to the national average. Over 14 percent — some 254,000 — West Virginians were uninsured during 2007.”

Only by making health care more available, affordable and geared towards preventing disease before it occurs can these statistics be changed. Many of the proposals which have been developed during through the Roadmap to Health Project are critical to addressing these problems but can not occur without a means of funding. An increase in the tobacco excise tax will provide those needed funds. Every state that has significantly increased its cigarette tax has enjoyed substantial increases in revenue, even while reducing smoking. These funds have helped other states fund essential services like health care and tobacco prevention programs. Contrary to tobacco industry arguments, cigarette tax increases are a reliable source of revenue for states.

West Virginia’s tax on cigarettes currently ranks 40th in the nation. No surprise we have the second highest death rate from tobacco related illnesses.

Now is the time for our citizens and our elected officials to stand up to the special interests of the tobacco industry. Now is the time to put the health of our people first. Now is the time to provide the access to care and preventive services West Virginia’s need to grow and prosper.

Now is the time for a tobacco tax increase in West Virginia.

Tags: health care, Roadmap to Health, tax, tobacco, West Virginia, West Virginia Legislature

This license to sell tobacco products, issued in 1919, cost $10 ($118.92 in 2009 dollars) and a license was required in West Virginia to sell tobacco products.

Tobacco retailers today pay no license fee. The “license” they receive is bundled with their business license and simply requires checking a box that tobacco products are sold. Also, unlike beer and alcohol licenses, there are no legal provisions to suspend or revoke the license of a retailer which sells tobacco products to minors.

Any wonder we have one of highest youth smoking rates in nation?

Tags: tobacco control, West Virginia, youth access

In a report released in January the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention found West Virginia’s death rate from smoking was second in the nation following Kentucky.

In West Virginia, the rate was 344 deaths per 100,000. Kentucky lead the nation at 371 deaths per 100,000. The national average was pegged at 263 per 100,000.

The lowest death rates were in Utah and Hawaii.

The CDC calculated these rates using death certificate death certificate data from the years 2000 through 2004, focusing on lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and 17 other disease caused by cigarette smoking.

Tags: CDC, data, tobacco, West Virginia

Tobacco control policy is in the forefront of the efforts to make West Virginia healthy place to live, work and play. 

Communities throughout the state are taking a stand in support of clean indoor air and enacting comprehensive smoking regulation at the local level.

State policymakers, business leaders and elected officials are struggling with the overwhelming cost of health care and have come to understand the huge drain tobacco use is on our health care systems and economy.

Youth groups have gotten involved and scores of young people have organized to work together to protect their generation from the perils of tobacco addiction.

The goal of Clear the Air is to provide a forum to stay abreast of the changing landscape of tobacco control efforts in West Virginia from local regulations and ordinances to the impact of state and federal laws. The timing of our start, just before the 2009 Legislative Session, is not by accident. As the legislature meets this year there will be both opportunities and challenges for people wanting to reduce the burden of tobacco in our society. It is the hope of this site  the information presented here will serve to get more people involved in that process, to speak out, and help build a healthier West Virginia.

Your comments are welcome; however abusive, threatening, profane or repetitive comments will not be published. Are we biased at this site - sure. We believe tobacco kills and measures which boldly address that fact need to be enacted. On this point we are unyielding, and the body of scientific knowledge agrees, so we will choose not to debate those who ignore this overwhelming fact.

Thank you for visiting Clear the Air, we hope you visit us again soon.

Tags: Clear the Air, public policy, tobacco control, West Virginia