The Heartland Institute

Problem 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. The experience of other states shows ...

Problem 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 inevitably will be tapped as a result of excessive ...

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 ...

States are increasingly looking to soda, candy, and other so-called “fat” taxes as a way to shore up their budgets. That’s happening despite a lack of evidence that these taxes have any significant effect on obesity rates, the usual rationale for these taxes. As happened previously with alcohol and tobacco, special-interest groups ...

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 ...

Illinois' alcohol tax increases, which the legislature pushed through to fund a $31 billion capital works plan, are beginning to have their troubling consequences. Neighboring states have dramatically lower alcohol taxes, and a large share of Illinois' population lives near these lower-taxed states. That's creating economic and ...

After being rebuked by the public and the Legislature, Gov. Paterson is resurrecting his sugary drink " sin" tax proposal on the heels of Obama's support for a similar federal tax. The proposal will fail to deliver the desired health benefits and is also bad tax policy. While some people might quit buying these higher-taxed ...

Earlier this year, the Illinois State Dental Society was proposing a 5 percent soda tax to pay for dental programs for poor people in the state. Now the pediatric chiefs of nine Illinois hospitals are supporting a 1-cent-per-ounce soda tax to fund children's health care programs (" Illinois doctors propose tax on soft drinks ...

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 ...

Rep. Michael Rodrigues should not be criticized for going to New Hampshire and buying grandpa s old cough medicine tax-free instead of paying Massachusetts recently hiked sales and alcohol tax (Sept. 2). Bay Staters should be heeding his sound fiscal advice and doing the same. But I do have a bone to pick with Rodrigues: If ...

John Nothdurft, a legislative specialist for The Heartland Institute asked some interesting questions. What do alcohol, playing cards, soft drinks, blueberries, tobacco, bottled water, and nudity all have in common? His answer is obivious, states tax these things to bring in more revenue and alter people s behavior. And it is getting ...

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 ...

The taxpayer-advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) has estimated average prices and taxes imposed on 13 popular targets for multiple layers of hidden taxes. "Sin" taxes, telecommunications taxes, and taxes on tourists are included in the analysis. While most of these goods and services are subject to specific excise ...

Hundreds of citizens of Pittsburgh and surrounding Allegheny County, Pennsylvania have launched a campaign they call "Whiskey Rebellion II" to place on the November ballot a referendum to remove a 10 percent tax on alcoholic drinks. The drink tax and a $2 a day tax on car rentals were imposed January 1 by Allegheny County ...

"Any time you raise the price of something, you decrease its consumption." So says Frank Gamrat, an economist and senior research associate at the Allegheny Institute in Pittsburgh. Gamrat said he believes Allegheny County officials who supported a 10 percent tax on alcoholic drinks and a $2 tax on car rentals "tried ...

When someone has a nicotine craving and no money to buy a pack of cigarettes made extremely expensive by state and local taxes, who can he or she turn to? In Chicago, New York, and many other cities across the country, there is likely to be a "loose square man" ready to sell a single cigarette or two. Filling a ...