Advocates for anti-tobacco groups presented a new poll on Wednesday that shows 75 percent of Vermonters support a $1.25 tax increase on cigarettes.
The survey, conducted by Mellman Group, shows that there is broad-based public support across party lines: 83 percent of Democrats back the tax, 69 percent of Independents and 70 percent of Republicans.
An additional tax hike would prevent 3,100 teens from smoking and would result in 3,100 adults kicking the habit, advocates said at a Statehouse press conference.
In addition, the tax would generate about $16.5 million in revenues for the state, according to an analysis for the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Vermont. That money, representatives from the coalition said, could be used to defray the cost of health care subsidies for low-income Vermonters now in the Catamount Health and Vermont Health Access Plan programs who must enter the more expensive health care exchange next year.
Health care costs related to cigarette and chewing tobacco use total about $233 million a year in Vermont. Medicaid costs are about $72 million, according to the American Cancer Society. Tobacco use can cause cancer, emphysema and exacerbates heart disease.
A tax hike, advocates said, would prevent 1,800 deaths.
John Hughes, medical director for the coalition, said in a statement that every 10 percent rise increase in cigarette prices reduces smoking rates by 3 percent to 5 percent among adults and 7 percent among teens. “Raising the tax is sound public health policy. It’s the single most effective way to spur adults to quit, prevent youth from starting and save both lives and health care costs,” Hughes said.
About 4,800 high school students in Vermont smoke, and 19 percent of Vermont 12th-graders use tobacco, according to American Lung Society statistics.
Twenty percent of Vermonters smoke; 36 percent of adults aged 25-29 are smokers.
Low income Vermonters are more likely to die of smoking-related diseases than their wealthier counterparts, according to Karen Lafayette of the Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council. About 75 percent of smokers who quit or smoke less because of tax hikes are poor.
The cigarette tax in Vermont is $2.62 per pack. Advocates say a dramatic increase in taxes of an additional $1.25 would push more adults to quit and make it more difficult for teens to afford tobacco products.
At $3.87 in taxes per pack, Vermont would become the second most expensive state to purchase cigarettes, after New York, which charges $4.35 per pack.
According to a recent study reported by the New York Times, the Empire State has a significant cigarette smuggling problem. Sixty percent of cigarettes in New York state are purchased on the black market by consumers who are trying to avoid steep taxes.
Jim Harrison, the director of the Vermont Grocers Association, says the additional taxes will hurt mini marts and small stores that already suffer from the border effect. New Hampshire’s cigarette tax is $1.68. The more than $2 difference per pack would drive more Vermonters to shop for cigarettes in the White Mountain State, and in some instances to Indian reservations in New York State.
“We share the concern and goal of reducing smoking,” Harrison said. “We do not believe just artificially increasing a tax in one state has that desired affect. What we do is we’re shifting dollars and shifting sales.”
Ray Bouffard, owner of the Georgia Market, says his customers travel to a reservation in New York 22 miles west of Plattsburg to buy $2.50 a pack custom cigarettes. At Bouffard’s store, a pack of Marlboros is $7.34, including taxes.
“It’s like the gas tax,” Harrison said. “We keep going back and back to it as sales diminish.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin opposes the tax increase. Another hike would send Vermonters to New Hampshire for smokes, according to Jeb Spaulding, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Administration.
“It’s so easy to buy three or four cartons of cigarettes (in New Hampshire) and avoid the Vermont tax,” Spaulding said. “We don’t need to do it; we shouldn’t do it.”
The state recently raised state tobacco taxes by 38 cents; the House budget would tack another 50 cents onto the cost of cigarettes.
The coalition press conference was held as the Senate Finance Committee deliberates on the miscellaneous tax bill. One member of that committee, Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, said she would support a significant increase in tobacco taxes.
