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
Health Advocates Urge Wyoming Legislature to Pass $1 Tobacco Tax Increase
Revenue Committee to Introduce House Bill 43 to Raise Wyoming's Cigarette Tax by $1 Per Pack
February 13, 2018
CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Feb. 13, 2018—Cancer advocates and volunteers from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and the American Heart Association gathered in Cheyenne on Tuesday, February 13 for a Day at the Capitol to urge their state lawmakers to pass a $1 tobacco tax increase that will save lives, reduce health care costs, and raise new revenue.
The group asked lawmakers to support the Revenue Committee’s House Bill 43, which would raise Wyoming’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack and increase the price of all other tobacco products like chewing tobacco at equal amounts. The Revenue Committee will introduce HB 43 this week.
Each year, 800 Wyoming residents die from tobacco use, and an additional 300 kids in the state start smoking. At current rates, 12,000 Wyoming kids alive today will die prematurely from a tobacco-related illness.
"Tobacco use is the top cause of preventable death in our state, and smoking causes nearly 30 percent of all cancer deaths in Wyoming," said Jason Mincer, ACS CAN Wyoming government relations director. "People are price sensitive, particularly kids, so raising the price of all tobacco products by at least $1 is the most effective way to help people quit and prevent kids from starting."
Every state that’s raised its tobacco tax by at least $1 has seen a sharp decrease in the number of cigarette packs sold, leading to fewer kids starting to smoke and less preventable disease and death. In Wyoming, the $1 tobacco tax increase would help 2,800 current tobacco users quit successfully and prevent 2,400 kids from starting. Ultimately, 1,400 lives would be saved from a premature smoking-related death.
"Wyoming’s current cigarette tax of 60 cents per pack is one of the lowest in the entire country, so it’s no wonder that both kids and adults in our state use tobacco at higher rates," said Kristen Waters, government relations director, American Heart Association in Wyoming. "Our Legislature has a proven tool at their fingertips to reduce the devastating toll of tobacco on our state, and they should use it."
A stronger tobacco tax also has financial benefits. The state spends $258 million annually on health care costs related to smoking, with almost $45 million a year in Medicaid costs.
"In this budget year and state budget shortfall, a $1 tobacco tax increase makes good fiscal sense," Mincer added. "This tobacco tax would generate about $22 million in new annual revenue, while saving the state roughly $107 million in long-term health care costs."
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 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.
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