Smoking and taxes - in decline in America 
 
Roland Henkel, from Minnesota, quit smoking in September and has been doing the
math ever since: It equates to 2,100 Marlboro Lights he hasn't smoked. And more
than $400 he didn't spend on cigarettes. 
 
The state of Minnesota has been doing the math, too, and isn't quite as
delighted.  Because of quitters like Henkel, Minnesota's tobacco tax revenue is
expected to go into a gradual slide later this year - a drop that may grow even
steeper with the expected passage of a statewide smoking ban. 
 
Across America, states are putting their treasuries under pressure by adopting
smoking restrictions as well as higher cigarette taxes, which appear to be
discouraging people from lighting up, as many health activists had hoped would
happen. 
 
State Sen. David Tomassoni said: "The taxes on smoking are being used to fund
education and health care. Now, if we eliminate smoking, does it mean that those
things go away?"
 
Others are quite so worried. "The wonderful thing about tobacco revenues is when
they go down, there's less smoking," said Eric Lindblom at the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids. 
 
Minnesota's Department of Human Services estimates it spends $295 million a year
to treat smoking-related illnesses for 647,000 people on public assistance. 
Tobacco taxes have up to now, been a reliable and politically expedient way of
raising revenue to solve budget problems.
 
Cigarette taxes are "a lousy way to fund your government," said David Brunori,
who teaches tax policy at George Washington University. 
 
In 2005, tobacco taxes contributed $13 billion to state budgets. But cigarette
tax collections that year were down in 15 states compared with the year or years
before, according to a study backed by the tobacco industry. States such as New
York, Massachusetts and Illinois are all forecasting a drop in revenue. 
 
Minnesota put an extra 75-cent charge on a pack of cigarettes two years ago
because of budget problems. The state expects to collect about $4 million from
smokers this year but is projecting a drop of about 1% per year and that is does
not even take into account the potential effect of a statewide smoking ban. 
 
Henkel stopped smoking after 35 years out of concern for his health. He
regularly checks a Web site that tracks how long it has been since he quit -
"Four months, 22 days and maybe about 20 hours and it told me that I've gained
seven days of life," he said. 
 
Source: Guardian 16 February 2007
Link to article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6418405,00.html

Source: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/adn/adn_1650.php