BlogWood: MT Archives

Big Tobacco steps up, Legislature sucks butt

Last week, we learned that our legislature is rightly concerned about greedy, evil terrorists trafficking in counterfeit cigarettes, resulting in lowered profits for deserving corporations such as Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds.

Now, the facts that virtually all of the major tobacco companies have themselves been involved in numerous tax evading smuggling schemes and that they are almost certainly the actual manufacturers of many of the “counterfeit” products and that they have partnered with organized crime syndicates around the globe, those facts are so obviously not germane to this conversation that I am specifically not going to mention them.

So, on to today - The Tampa Tribune informs us that some of those innocent cash rich tax evading tobacco companies may somehow benefit from another bill that's making its way through the legislative process.

Two pieces of legislation, House Bill 1261 and Senate Bill 2012, propose tacking a 40- cent tax onto the per-pack price of discount cigarettes distributed by manufacturers that escaped Florida's landmark tobacco settlement.

It's an attempt by lawmakers to close a loophole in Florida's 1997 agreement with the nation's largest cigarette makers. At the time, the small companies accounted for less than 1 percent of all cigarette sales, so Florida ignored them when striking the deal for reimbursement of taxpayer money spent treating sick smokers.

Rep. Ron Greenstein, D-Coconut Creek, saying that Camel had ``stepped up,'' wanted to know why the state wasn't demanding the same of all cigarette manufacturers. ``Cheap cigarettes cause just as much cancer and disease as their higher-priced counterparts,'' said Greenstein, who is sponsoring the House bill.

Because smaller tobacco companies such as 305 and Maverick did not participate in the settlement, they have been able to sell their cigarettes for less than popular name brands from the major manufacturers, which raised prices to pay for the $200 billion settlement. A pack of Marlboros, for example, can cost as much as $4, and some of the budget brands go for $1.50 a pack.

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Lawmakers say the tax increase could help beef up funding for the state's antismoking programs for teens.

The state brings in hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the settlement and tobacco taxes, but the Legislature hasn't been spending much more than $1 million annually on tobacco prevention programs.

In 2004, the Legislature budgeted $1 million for smoking prevention programs, down from $37.5 million in 2003 and as much as $70 million in 1999. This year the state could spend even less, using the remainder for cancer research and other health care programs.

Opponents of the proposed bills, however, argue they amount to a sweetheart deal for one midsize tobacco company, Liggett Group. Liggett, a major producer of budget cigarettes, was one of the original companies to settle but had negotiated favorable terms by cooperating with state investigators in the case against the other manufacturers.

If passed, the new taxes would target Liggett's primary competitors, causing their prices to climb while leaving Liggett's prices unchanged.

So, the tax increase could be used to fund smoking prevention programs. But, as the article notes, and as I pointed out last week (just in case you somehow failed to follow the link the first time), the once impressive anti-smoking program has all but been killed by Jeb! and his legislative cronies.