A tax that punishes the poor
THE TAX on a pack of cigarettes in Massachusetts went up by $1 per pack this month, making the state's tax one of the highest in the country at $2.51 per pack.
Arguments for the tax increase include that it will raise $174 million in revenue this year to pay for the skyrocketing costs of health care under the new "Commonwealth Care" plan, which mandates that the uninsured purchase private insurance (high premiums and co-pays for sub-standard insurance, typically), and that the tax will encourage smokers to quit.
Think about that for a moment: health care costs are supposed to be paid for in part by a tax on smoking, an addiction that kills hundreds of thousands of people per year, makes people sick and leads to much higher health care costs!
In addition to the absurdity of paying for health care with revenue from an addiction responsible for a huge chunk of the nation's health problems, a flat sales tax is by nature regressive. This means that it disproportionately affects people with low incomes. For example, a pack-a-day smoker who makes $100 per day ($26,000 per year) will pay an extra 1 percent of their income in taxes under the increase, while a pack-a-day smoker making $500 per day ($130,000 per year) will pay only 0.2 percent more because of the hike.
And smoking is more prevalent among low-income people. According to a 2006 study by the Centers for Disease Control, 30.6 percent of adults in the U.S. who live below the poverty line smoke, compared to 20.4 percent of those at or above the poverty line.
Why don't people just quit, and why are the poor more likely to smoke? Well, cigarette companies spend millions on advertising that specifically targets low-income and minority populations.
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances people consume. Additionally, smoking is a way to cope with stress, and, in a society plagued by exploitation, oppression, poverty and violence, it's understandable why so many--especially those closer to the bottom of the income scale--use substances like tobacco as a way to deal with depression and stress.
The cigarette tax hike, a 67 percent increase, amounts to a transfer of wealth from the pockets of working-class Massachusetts residents suffering from an addiction to those of health insurance industry bigwigs. It's amazing that there is any room left in the pockets of the latter, now that every Massachusetts resident is mandated to buy their inadequate insurance. For many workers hit by skyrocketing gas, food and health care costs, this could be the straw that breaks their back (if it's not already broken).
According to research by Physicians for a National Health Program, a single-payer universal health care system in Massachusetts would save taxpayers over $9 billion per year by cutting out insurance company profits and bureaucracy. Not only that, it would provide better access and better care than we currently receive with private insurance.
So if Massachusetts' politicians were really interested in providing health care for all, they'd be pushing for single payer, not raising cigarette taxes.
It's not fair to make smokers pay for handouts to insurance companies, nor is it fair to penalize people suffering from an addiction. Instead, more resources should be available to help people quit if they want to. Perhaps some of the $9 billion saved with a single-payer health system could go towards smoking-cessation programs. Even more could go towards removing the stress that goes along with a life of poverty.
As long as our society is run by capitalists and politicians who grind people up as disposable in the production of profits, and see no value in us beyond that, millions will turn to smoking and other drugs to get by.
Massachusetts politicians have shown that they will stop at nothing to squeeze another drop of blood from our battered bodies to quench the thirst of the wealthy.
Gary Lapon, Northampton, Mass.
