Georgia hasn’t raised taxes on cigarettes in nearly 20 years and has the second-lowest levy in the country.
But a Capitol subcommittee hearing Wednesday on a bill to increase the tax from 37 cents to 57 cents per pack made it clear even a relatively small hike will be a tough sell in the General Assembly.
Bills are filed pretty much every session to raise tobacco taxes in the state — typically by $1 or more per pack — and annually they go nowhere.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, took a more modest approach this year, filing bills seeking an increase of 20 cents per pack on cigarettes and a doubling of the relatively new state tax on vaping products.
But tobacco companies are big donors to the campaigns of state officials and lawmakers. Their lobbyists typically don’t have to voice their opposition before committees to see the bills go down. There are also plenty of lawmakers who don’t want to raise any taxes and say Georgians have a right to smoke, regardless of whether it damages their health or increases taxpayer health care costs.
During a House Ways and Means subcommittee meeting Wednesday, a parade of representatives from health care organizations such as the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and doctors groups urged lawmakers to raise tobacco taxes by up to $1.50 a pack.
They said the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths was smoking, with heart illnesses and lung cancer leading the way.
Stephens said the state’s Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled spends $700 million a year treating tobacco-related illnesses. The current tobacco tax brings in about $150 million a year, he said, and his 20 cents-per-pack increase would raise an additional $90 million a year that would be dedicated to health care programs. He said nonsmoking taxpayers are currently subsidizing the health care of smokers.
“It’s your choice (to smoke), and it’s not my bill to pay,” Stephens said. “It is a very small step in the right direction, and it will generate revenue to reduce the burden on Georgia taxpayers.”
Stephens also said raising taxes will convince some people they should quit or reduce their smoking.
But some of the health groups said 20 cents per pack may not be enough to make people change their habits.
Danna Thompson of the American Lung Association said tobacco companies offer coupons to regular smokers that would mitigate the impact of a small increase in cigarette taxes. The increase Stephens is proposing, she said, “will generate little to no health benefits.”
Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, a member of the subcommittee, made it clear he won’t be voting for Stephens’ cigarette bill.
“This is nothing more than a tax on the poor,” Ridley said. “This country was founded on freedom.
“We don’t penalize and look down on a group of people (for smoking).”
Ridley said raising taxes would hurt convenience stores in border areas that sell to out-of-state smokers attracted by Georgia’s lower cigarette prices. He also doubted it would persuade smokers to kick the habit
“I don’t know if you raise it $1.50 (a pack) it’s going to make a difference,” he said. “If you are going to smoke, you are going to smoke.”
The subcommittee didn’t vote on the measures Wednesday.
