Smoke’em Out

A new federal tax on cigarettes went into effect today, and apparently it's breaking news. When I got to the CNN website this morning, the very first picture on the page is a man complaining about how he has to pay more for his smokes. "They're picking on us poor people…" say the man, "They have been for years." While I know what it feels like to feel picked on, I don't really have much sympathy for smokers. The main complaint appears to be that smokers feel that they are being singled out for tax increases every time the government wants to fund something, and all I have to respond to that is… "You are, Deal with it."

It's not often that I side with the majority, but in this case, I have too. First off, we all know that smoking is bad for you. If there is anyone still out there that doesn't agree with me is either completely naïve, or is so old that they are still living in the 50's. Smoking is related to an increase in every health risk from cancer to diabetes. There is a reason that smokers get charged higher health insurance premiums. Study after study has shown that smoking is a slow painful death, and yet there is still a group out there that refuses to stop the habit.

Next, smokers are part of a group that, in economics, which are referred to as inelastic. Inelastic means that if the price of a good goes up, the demand for the good remains the same. This means that if the price of cigarettes increases, very few people will stop smoking. This is a great thing for the government. If the lawmakers need to find a way to fund a program, inelastic goods are great things to tax.

There is a way to combine these two points. Smokers often fall in the category of not having health insurance. They have an income under the poverty level and cannot afford it, or they are already living off the government and have everything paid for by Medicare or Medicaid. This does not mean that everyone under the poverty level or on Medicare smoke. But there are many studies which show that smokers are lower income households with no medical insurance. So what happens when these people get sick? The government pays for their medical care, while they continue to smoke. So why should we not have them pay for some of the other programs.

What was the new program funded by the tax increase, SCHIPs, State Children's Health Insurance Programs. That's right, the increase is slated to help develop programs that provide health insurance for children of parents who can't afford private insurance for their children but don't qualify for Medicaid. Why are smokers complaining?

Yes the new tax is almost 10 times more that it was a yesterday, and yes it is going to cost an extra $10 to buy a carton, but you can always avoid the tax and quit smoking. It would help everyone, especially you. Stop complaining just for the sake of complaining. If you are not willing to change, regardless of the price, both money and health, then be quiet and hand over the cash.