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State must get out of cellar and raise the cigarette tax

Good policy, common sense say it's time for change

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South Carolina's penchant to be at the bottom of many national lists can be disconcerting, but it's downright embarrassing to be home to the lowest tax on cigarettes.

And when we say low, we mean low -- 7 cents a pack, the rate it's been since 1977. We can't just blame our history as a tobacco-producing state. North Carolina (30 cents and going to 35 cents later this year), Georgia (37 cents), Kentucky (30 cents) and Virginia (30 cents) all demonstrate that it can be done. South Carolina is so singularly out there by itself on this issue that it is the only state whose tax is in the single digits. Missouri is next at 17 cents a pack.

The median cigarette tax in the U.S. is 79 cents. Some states allow cities and counties to impose an additional tax (Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Virginia).

South Carolina lawmakers need to raise the cigarette tax, and they need to do it now. It is appalling that a survey shows a majority of South Carolina voters support an increase, and our legislators continue to give in to weakened tobacco interests and ill-conceived pledges not to raise taxes.

A poll released last week found that 71 percent of South Carolina voters support raising the state's cigarette tax by up to 93 cents a pack. The survey for the S.C. Tobacco Collaborative and the S.C. Hospital Association asked 500 likely voters if they would support a cigarette tax increase if the money went to a program to reduce tobacco use and to fund Medicaid and health care programs.

The collaborative is a coalition of more than 30 member groups, including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association of South Carolina, and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The survey found 51 percent of voters are more likely to support a candidate who favors increasing the cigarette tax. Seventy percent of Republicans, 77 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents supported the increase.

The state spends about $1 billion a year on cigarette-related health care spending, and supporters say a 93 cent cigarette tax increase would generate an additional $223 million to help offset those costs.

In contrast, tobacco is the state's No. 5 crop, generating $115 million in sales in 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Given all this, it's hard to understand the legislature's reluctance to do something that can help pay for badly needed health care, improve the state's overall health and help curb youth smoking.

Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell explains it this way: "The bottom line is, most of our taxes are the lowest in the country -- our gas tax, our income tax on seniors ... . We're a state that's generally hesitant to tax people."

We can understand their reluctance to put more money in their own hands. State lawmakers have demonstrated their ability to squander resources with their handling of South Carolina's share of the tobacco settlement money. Only a small portion of the $2.3 billion has been spent on smoking prevention, education and cessation initiatives. Most of the state's money has been spent on a laundry list of items that include payments to tobacco farmers; rural water and sewer projects; and Medicaid funds to help the state reimburse hospitals, doctors and pharmacists for treating low-income patients.

In fact, only about $3.4 million has been spent on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. During the last three fiscal years, no settlement money was designated for these programs. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that South Carolina spend at least $24 million a year from the settlement money on smoking prevention and cessation programs.

To their credit, our state lawmakers say they support a cigarette tax hike, but they also can offer excuses for why it probably won't happen -- it's an election year; we shouldn't do it at all if it's not going to be a significant increase; and lawmakers have pledged not to raise taxes.

At some point, common sense -- and dare we say it -- leadership need to enter the picture.

Lawmakers, raise this tax.