Lawmakers from both parties and representatives from the American Cancer Society are holding a press conference at the Statehouse today to call for an increase to the state's taxes on tobacco products. Their main argument seems to be that an increase in the price will encourage Mainers to give up the habit or to never start in the first place, leading to less pressure on the state's health care system. Left unsaid is the fact that revenue from such a tax could soften the deep cuts facing many state programs (full release after the jump).
The Portland Press Herald weighed in on such a tax this morning with an editorial that supported raising "the tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes to bring those items in line with cigarette taxes" but opposed an increased tax on cigarettes due to its likely disproportionate effect on "lower-income families."
MEDIA ALERT
PRESS CONFERENCE
11:30 am Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Hall of Flags, Maine Statehouse
FMI Contact: Megan Hannan
207.831.9893
Maine Lawmakers Call for Increasing Price of Tobacco Products to Support Cancer Programs, Keep Young People from Taking Up Habit
Augusta – Representatives Meredith Strang Burgess (R- Cumberland) and Anne Perry (D – Calais) are teaming up to make cigarettes and other tobacco products less affordable to young people, and to decrease the health affects associated with tobacco addiction.
“We talk about the high cost of health care and health reform, and this is the first best step to keep people from ever having to enter the health care system,” said Rep Perry, a nurse practitioner from Downeast Maine.
“Healthy families and lower health care costs are the building blocks of a thriving economy. Maine’s future prosperity depends on our ability to drastically reduce preventable diseases and the stranglehold of health costs that accompany them,” added Rep. Strang Burgess, herself a small business owner.
“A vote to increase the price of this deadly product will save more lives than anything else lawmakers can do,” said Megan Hannan, Director of Government Relations for the American Cancer Society. “This is a proven tool to keep young people from beginning to use tobacco, and helps people to choose to quit.”
After the last price increase in 2005 prompted an unprecedented increase in people trying to quit, according to the Maine Tobacco Helpline staff. It is hoped that the result would be the same this time.
Press Conference Speakers
Rep. Anne Perry
Rep. Meredith Strang Burgess
Andrew B. MacLean, Maine Medical Association
Dr. Dervilla MacCann, Cardiologist
Megan Hannan, American Cancer Society
