With the cigarette tax scheduled to increase by 50 cents today, some smokers are feeling the burn.
Wesley Thomas contends the change, along with measures across the country to eliminate smoking in public, is discrimination against smokers.
“It’s stupid that they’re raising taxes and saying that we can’t smoke where we want to,” the 19-year-old Lansing resident said. “Smokers aren’t recognized as a group - we’re just a bunch of people with cigarettes.”
But some say they hope the increase, which will raise Michigan’s tax from 75 cents to $1.25, will do more positive than negative.
Twenty cents of the cigarette-tax increase is set to go to the state’s school budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2003. About 22 cents will go to the state’s general fund, nearly 4 cents will be spent on the Medicaid program and almost 1 cent will go to a Wayne County health care program for low-income families. The increase will make Michigan’s cigarette tax the third highest in the country.
Tobacco-Free Michigan, a grassroots organization, reported 44,900 adult smokers will quit because of the increase.
“It will save lives as well as millions in health-care costs,” spokesman Charlie Baase said. “It’s an amazing accomplishment for Michigan.”
Baase also said a Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids study expected an 8.3 percent decrease in youth smoking.
But Steve Wright, manager of State Discount, 501 E. Grand River Ave., said he isn’t expecting a big drop in sales.
“Most people are just going to pay it,” he said. “Some people have been talking about quitting, but you hear that every time a tax goes up.”
Lansing resident Jim Hill, a smoker, said he has no intention of quitting, but might cut back.
“I probably won’t buy as many,” Hill said with a laugh. “I am sure there will be a few people who quit smoking, but I don’t think it’s going to be as effective as they’re hoping.”
Baase still is optimistic about the hike’s possibilities.
“These numbers are not just guesses - they’re based on studies from other states with similar increases,” he said. “It’s going to have a huge impact.”
Baase said his only qualm about the tax boost is the lack of revenue going to tobacco cessation.
“Despite the good news, the Legislature missed an opportunity to put any of that money into tobacco prevention programs,” he said.
But that is the least of smoker’s worries.
Thomas just doesn’t think the state’s financial burdens should be put on smoker’s shoulders.
“There are just a lot of people who don’t like smoke, and they’re making all the rules,” Thomas said of the Legislature. “They’re not going to die from half a puff of smoke in their face.”
