The Heartland Institute

Nearly 50 million U.S. adults—more than a fifth of the total adult population—smoke cigarettes. After vigorous public health efforts including taxes, education, and outright bans on smoking, the percentage of Americans who smoke has fallen by almost half in the past four decades. In recent years, however, the number of Americans ...

Nearly 50 million American adults—more than a fifth of the nation’s adult population—smoke cigarettes. After vigorous efforts aimed at reducing that figure, the percentage of Americans who smoke has fallen by almost half in the past four decades. In recent years, however, the number of people quitting cigarettes has begun to ...

Wisconsin is considering a revenue neutral tax proposal that would change the tax structure for smokeless tobacco from an ad valorem tax to a weight-based tax. This would bring smokeless tobacco taxes in line with the way that other “sin” taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, and gas are applied. In The Heartland Institute’s testimony ...

Idaho is expected to face a budget deficit in fiscal year 2012 of approximately $350 million. Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman Dennis Lake (R-Blackfoot) says he wants to increase the state’s cigarette tax by more than $1.50 per pack to help generate more revenue. Unfortunately for advocates of targeted “sin ...

Georgia state Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) wants to raise the state’s cigarette tax by a dollar per pack in order to help close the state’s $1.5 billion budget deficit. Smokers aren’t the only ones who should be worried about cigarette taxes, because all taxpayers will inevitably be tapped as a result of excessive spending ...

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a 50-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike shows he understands such tax hikes are bad for the state’s economy and bad for all of the state’s taxpayers, not just those who smoke. Targeted tax hikes such as those placed on alcohol, tobacco, and other “sinful” products take more money from ...

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) has proposed his fifth cigarette tax increase in five years. The 20 cents-per-pack increase would bring New Hampshire’s cigarette tax to $1.98 per pack, well above the national average. In a state that has historically celebrated its resistance to taxes, the governor and many legislators have ...

Gov. Mark Parkinson's recommendation to use a cigarette tax increase to help cover Kansas's $300 million budget deficit should be worrisome not only to smokers, but also to nonsmokers and legislators who want to be fiscally responsible. Tobacco tax hikes encourage cross-border shopping and other tax avoidance measures, and they ...

Tobacco tax hikes like the one being discussed in Utah should be recognized for what they are: unstable and regressive tax increases targeting a minority of citizens, fueling unsustainable government spending, all wrapped in one fiscally irresponsible package. Tobacco tax hikes have at least four fundamental flaws: (1) They are ...

Smokers have become a favorite target of many legislators across the country. Some policymakers seem to think taxing smokers is a win-win way to curb smoking and raise revenue, without hurting the economy. In practice, however, these taxes create more budget problems than they solve. As the tobacco tax revenue stream falls ...

More than 20 states are considering “sin taxes”—such as excise taxes on tobacco, beer, and spirits—in order to shore up their budget deficits. But such taxes are badly flawed and likely to do far more harm than good to a state’s economy. Sound tax policy adheres to four principles: * Taxes should be applied to a broad base ...

A 62-cent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco products, intended to fund the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), goes into effect April 1. The joke will be on state budgets—and ultimately taxpayers—because tobacco taxes are not the revenue boon advocates claim them to be. In 2007, states ...

While Indiana’s legislature and citizens debate the merits of a draconian statewide smoking ban, business owners are already taking steps to balance the wishes of the smoking and nonsmoking populations. Government intervention is not the only way to protect citizens from the nuisance and claimed health hazards associated with smoking ...

For years tobacco consumers have been flocking to Virginia to take advantage of the 30 cents-per-pack cigarette tax in order to avoid taxes in Maryland and Washington, DC, where the tax is currently $2.00 per pack. This week Gov. Tim Kaine proposed doubling Virginia’s cigarette tax to 60 cents per pack in an attempt to fill ...

The Kansas Health Policy Authority’s recommendation to use a 75-cent cigarette tax increase to pay for health costs should be worrisome—not only to smokers, but also to non-smokers and fiscally responsible legislators as well. The approach may seem appealing at first, but such tax increases are notoriously unpredictable and regressive ...

A 25 percent increase in New Hampshire's cigarette tax, scheduled to go into effect today, has been put on hold until audits can be completed to determine just how much revenue the tax has raised so far this year. In spring, legislators had voted to increase the tax--from $1.00 to $1.25--if revenues didn't reach $50 million ...

In an effort to vilify the legal act of smoking, anti-tobacco groups in Utah are pushing a $2 per pack cigarette tax, with the help of very provocative and misleading statistics on health care costs. Utah smokers in 2007 paid $73.5 million to the state government in cigarette excise and sales taxes. That figure doesn't include ...

As President Calvin Coolidge once said, "Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing." Property rights are at the heart of the smoking ban debate, but they are often overlooked at the expense of what is perceived to be the "greater good." A true respect for property rights requires that business owners ...