Health advocates in West Virginia hope state politicians take action on a new poll showing that most voters support raising taxes on cigarettes. According to the poll, 63 percent of West Virginia voters would favor a $1 hike on a Marlboro pack of cigarettes to help ease state fiscal woes and reduce youth smoking. The poll, commissioned by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free west Virginia and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, was released Tuesday.
Research shows that raising cigarette taxes is one of the most effective ways to stop kids from smoking and to help adults quit, members of the coalition said at a Capitol news conference. A $1 hike would prevent 19,000 West Virginia youth from smoking, they say.
"It's a win for health," said Hersha Arnold Brown of the American Cancer Society. "It's a win for our youth. It's a win for the state budget."
State officials are projecting a $150 to $160 million shortfall in fiscal year 2011.
A dollar-per-pack tax increase would generate $117 million in annual revenue for West Virginia, despite the decline in tobacco consumption it would bring, the groups say. They hope the poll results will convince lawmakers that it's not politically unpopular to favor higher cigarette taxes.
West Virginia last raised its cigarette tax in 2003, when the tax jumped from 17 cents to the current 55 cents. Today, that ranks 44th in the nation.
West Virginia Wholesalers Association Executive Director John Hodges said a tax increase would hurt businesses and kill jobs.
"Things are bad enough already," Hodges said. "We just try to be as competitive as we can because there's real competition between the states."
When it comes to plugging state budget holes, most West Virginians prefer hiking taxes on alcohol and tobacco over other options, according to the survey.
Asked about other ways to address fiscal woes, a majority of state voters opposed raising taxes on pop, income, state sales, and gasoline, according to the poll. Most also oppose cutting funding for health care, education, road maintenance, and nursing home care.
Higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco are the only options that a majority of state residents support, the survey of 500 registered voters found.
That shows that raising taxes on those products doesn't bring the same type of "political peril" as raising other types of taxes, said Nathan Henry of the Mellman Group, a national firm that conducted the survey.
Support for a higher cigarette tax crosses party lines, according to the survey. Sixty-one percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats and 62 percent independent voters favor raising the tax.
The poll was conducted in May and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Every state that has raised its tobacco tax has seen an increase in revenue, despite a decline in tobacco consumption, said Peter Fisher, vice president for state issues at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"There are no exceptions," he said.
Last year, 16 states increased tobacco taxes, according to the National Conference of state Legislatures. So far this year, four states have done so.
Efforts to raise West Virginia's tax have failed over the past few years. On Thursday, three legislators who have led that push attended the press conference: Senate Health and Human Resources Chairman Roman Prezioso, D-Marion; his House counterpart, Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne; and Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha.
They say they will again push for higher cigarette taxes next year. If they succeed, they want to see the money "spent wisely" on health-care items such as tobacco prevention programs, Prezioso said.
"We don't want to see this as free money up for grabs, that goes into the general revenue," he said.
