Nebraska Revenue Committee Bill Fails to Address Tobacco Crisis
Statement from American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Nebraska Government Relations Director Megan Word
Noe Baker
Media Advocacy
ACS CAN Urges Yes Vote on Basalt's Tobacco Tax Increase on April Ballot
March 14, 2018
Denver, Colo.– March 14, 2018 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) urges voters to check ‘yes’ on Basalt’s Ballot Question A in April. The initiative would raise taxes on cigarettes by $2 per pack and institute a 40 percent increase on other tobacco products.
"Big Tobacco has fought every effort to raise the tobacco tax statewide in Colorado," said ACS CAN Colorado Government Relations Director R.J. Ours. "The tobacco industry knows tobacco tax increases save lives by preventing new users from picking up a lifetime addiction, but that puts a big dent in their profits. The Basalt Town Council is outsmarting the industry by giving its citizens a chance to vote in favor of local tobacco control that will bring both life-savings and cost-savings to Basalt."
Last raised in 2005, Colorado’s tobacco tax is one of the lowest in the nation. At 84 cents per pack, it is ranked 38th out of 50 states. Cheap cigarettes are one reason why 2,200 Colorado kids become new daily smokers each year.
"Research shows one of the most effective ways to deter young people from starting to use tobacco and encourage adults who use tobacco to quit is by regularly and significantly increasing the price of cigarettes and other tobacco products," Ours continued.
Roughly 5,100 Coloradans lose their lives annually to tobacco use, the leading cause of preventable death. Smoking-related illness in the Centennial State costs $1.89 billion a year, including more than $386 million in Medicaid care. Lost productivity caused by smoking in Colorado totals $1.27 billion annually. These amounts do not include health costs caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused fires, smokeless tobacco use, or cigar and pipe smoking.
Revenue from the new tobacco tax would be invested back into the Basalt community to help finance local health and human services, tobacco-related health issues, and addiction and substance abuse education and mitigation.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
Paid for by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in support of Yes on Basalt Ballot Question A.
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