Increase tax on smoking to $1, forum urges state

Calling tobacco use the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the state, the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative wants the General Assembly to increase the cigarette tax by 93 cents, to $1 a pack.

"You want to talk about a weapon of mass destruction, tobacco is it," Oscar Lovelace Jr., a physician and president of the collaborative, said during a forum at the Spartanburg County Library Thursday evening. "This tax will save our kids, save lives and give everyone a fair tax."

South Carolina's current 7-cent tax is the fourth lowest in the nation. Only North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky have lower taxes.

Lovelace said raising the tax to $1 would generate $310 million for the state. But more importantly, he said, the increase would result in a 21.2 percent decline in youth smoking.

He also said that tobacco use kills nearly 5,900 South Carolinians a year, and that lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the number one killer of women.

Increasing the tax would provide more than $1 billion in long-term savings for the state's health-care system, and would improve the health of the estimated 44,000 people who would quit smoking, he said.

"But we now have Bozo legislators saying they won't vote to increase this tax until they reform Medicaid," Lovelace said. "That's a crazy connection to make. Increase the tax and then worry about where the money goes."

Lovelace also said the collaboration needs to convince Gov. Mark Sanford that the tax is needed to prevent unnecessary deaths and should not be tied to an income tax reduction.

Sanford has proposed increasing the tobacco tax to 62 cents with a corresponding reduction in the state income tax as part of his Jobs and Growth Plan.

Sanford spokesman Will Folks said the chances of the collaborative's proposal passing were "highly doubtful."

"It's clear that the (state) House is not going to pass a cigarette tax," Folks said. "The governor is open to looking at any income tax relief proposal that will stimulate jobs and capital investment in our state."

State Rep. Scott Talley, R-Spartanburg, said he would not support the collaborative's plan because of the Medicaid issue.

"We need to address Medicaid and rising health-care costs first," Talley said.

Dorothy Pearson, owner of Renaissance Woman in Spartanburg, was one of about 20 people who attended the forum.

Pearson said increasing the tax is the right thing to do. She said she smoked for 17 years, but has been smoke-free for about 15 years.

"I consider myself a smoking survivor," she said. "I didn't have cancer, but I survived smoking by stopping."

Stanley Mossburg, 20, was smoking outside the library when the forum ended. He predicted the tax would stay at 7 cents.

"They've been talking about it (an increase) for years," Mossburg said.

But he said he wouldn't give up his habit even if he had to pay an extra dollar.

"I quit for a while. It's a lot harder than people think."

Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7223 or bob.dalton@shj.com.

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