[' ', 'Levying', 'Excise', 'Taxes', 'on', 'Tobacco', 'Products', 'is', 'Unfair', 'and', 'Unsound', 'Fiscal', 'Policy', 'AY', 'hen', 'federal', 'and', 'state', 'legislators', 'need', 'fo', 'raise', 'revenue,', 'they', 'often', 'turn', 'to', 'excise', 'taxes', 'as', 'a', 'source', 'of', 'income.', 'The', 'Tobacco', 'Observer', 'talked', 'to', 'Richard', 'Hagner,', 'professor', 'of', 'economics', 'at', 'Florida', 'State', 'University,', 'about', 'tobacco', 'excise', 'taxes.', 'Wagner', 'is', 'a', 'specialist', 'in', 'public', 'choice', 'and', 'public', 'finance', 'and', 'co-author', 'with', 'Robert', 'Tollison', 'of', 'Smoking', 'and', 'the', 'State:', 'Social', 'Costs,', 'Rent', 'Seeking', 'and', 'Public', 'Policy.', 'IB', 'The', 'Observer:', 'Supporters', 'of', 'excise', 'taxes', 'often', 'claim', 'that', 'excises—including', 'taxes', 'on', 'tobacco', 'producis—are', 'an', 'easy', 'way', 'to', 'raise', 'needed', 'revenues.', 'After', 'all,', 'most', 'excise', 'taxes', 'are', 'only', 'a', 'few', 'cents', 'to', 'a', 'dollar', 'per', 'product.', 'What', 'is', 'wrong', 'with', 'that?', '(2', 'Wagner:', 'It’s', 'not', 'fair.', 'Tobacco', 'products', 'are', 'among', 'the', 'most', 'heavily', 'taxed', 'of', 'all', 'products.', 'A', 'pack', 'of', 'cigarettes', 'that', 'sells', 'for', '$1.20', 'would', 'sell', 'for', 'around', '80', 'cents', 'with-', 'out', 'excise', 'and', 'sales', 'taxes.', 'This', 'is', 'a', 'tax', 'of', '50', 'percent—an', 'extraordinarily', 'heavy', 'burden.', 'As', 'a', 'general', 'principle,', 'people', 'should', 'not', 'have', 'to', 'bear', 'different', 'tax', 'burdens', 'simply', 'because', 'of', 'differences', 'in', 'the', 'things', 'they', 'buy.', 'Ml', 'The', 'Observer:', 'The', 'federal', 'budget', 'deficit', 'continues', 'to', 'grow,', 'with', 'estimates', 'of', 'revenue', 'shortfalls', 'for', '1989', 'ranging', 'from', '$130', 'to', '$180', 'billion.', 'Why', 'not', 'make', 'smokers', 'pay', 'their', 'fair', 'share', 'by', 'increas-', 'ing', 'cigarette', 'excises', 'to', 'help', 'reduce', 'the', 'deficit?', '    ', '   ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', ' ', '  ', '   ', ' ', ' ', ' ', '  ', '  ', '  ', ' ', '  ', '  ', ' ', '  ', ' ', '_-TIMN', '01267', 'continued', 'from', 'page', 'I', '(”', 'Wagner:', 'A', 'long-term', 'economic', 'policy', 'rather', 'than', 'a', 'short-term', '“quick', 'fix”', 'is', 'necessary', 'to', 'solve', 'the', 'country’s', 'budget', 'problems.', 'It', 'is', 'unfair', 'to', 'look', 'to', 'smokers', 'to', 'shoulder', 'the', 'burden', 'of', 'the', 'federal', 'deficit.', 'Because', 'most', 'smokers', 'pay', 'the', 'same', 'taxes', 'everyone', 'else', 'does,', 'they', 'already', 'pay', 'their', '“fair', 'share.”', 'But', 'smokers', 'also', 'pay', 'the', 'excises', 'that', 'nonsmokers', 'don’t,', 'so', 'smokers', 'pay', 'more', 'than', 'a', 'fair', 'share.', 'Tobacco', 'excises', 'already', 'generate', 'more', 'than', '$4.7', 'billion', 'in', 'revenue', 'for', 'the', 'federal', 'government', 'annuaily.', 'Although', 'it', 'is', 'a', 'large', 'sum', 'of', 'revenue,', 'it', 'represents', 'a', 'very', 'small', 'percentage', 'of', 'the', 'total', 'deficit.', 'These', 'taxes', 'are', 'regressive—it', 'is', 'unsound', 'policy', 'to', 'tax', 'those', 'least', 'able', 'to', 'pay.', 'In-', 'creasing', 'excise', 'taxes', 'would', 'wipe', 'out', 'the', 'relief', 'low-', 'and', 'middle-income', 'families', 'gain', 'under', 'the', 'Tax', 'Reform', 'Act', 'of', '1986.', 'Wl', 'The', 'Observer:', 'But', 'the', 'excise', 'tax', 'on', 'tobacco', 'has', 'not', 'been', 'increased', 'at', 'the', 'federal', 'level', 'in', 'several', 'years.', '()', 'Wagner:', 'And', 'for', 'good', 'reason.', 'While', 'the', 'federal', 'government', 'continues', 'to', 'collect', '16', 'cents', 'in', 'excises', 'per', 'pack,', 'state', 'govern-', 'ments', 'have', 'steadily', 'increased', 'taxes', 'levied', 'on', 'tobacco', 'products.', 'Currently,', 'the', 'average', 'state', 'excise', 'is', 'about', '19', 'cents', 'per', 'pack.', 'State', 'legislators', 'oppose', 'increases', 'in', 'the', 'tobacco', 'excise', 'tax', 'at', 'the', 'federal', 'level', 'because', 'it', 'impairs', 'their', 'ability', 'to', 'raise', 'revenues.', 'Last', 'year', 'alone,', 'state', 'treasuries', 'collected', 'more', 'than', '$46', 'billion', 'in', 'cigarette', 'excises.', 'Ml', 'The', 'Observer:', 'Some', 'people', 'have', 'pro-', 'posed', 'to', 'earmark', 'tobacco', 'taxes', 'for', 'a', 'wide', 'range', 'of', 'spending', 'programs', 'rang-', 'ing', 'from', 'education', 'to', 'sewer', 'construction', 'to', 'pollution', 'control.', 'With', 'so', 'much', '©', 'Excise', 'taxes', 'would', 'negate', 'the', 'benefits', 'gained', 'by', 'low-', 'and', 'middle-income', 'families', 'in', 'the', '1986', 'tax', 'reform', 'bill;', 'and', '¢', 'Excise', 'taxes', 'reduce', 'economic', 'growth', 'and', 'encourage', 'unemployment.', 'STATE', 'LEGISLATION', 'While', 'Congress', 'and', 'the', 'White', 'House', 'battled', 'to', 'produce', 'a', 'federal', 'budget,', 'state', 'and', 'local', 'governments', 'struggled', 'to', 'pro-', 'duce', 'budgets', 'of', 'their', 'own.', 'Many', 'intro-', 'duced', 'bills', 'calling', 'for', 'new', 'or', 'increased', 'taxes', 'on', 'cigarettes', 'to', 'finance', 'existing', 'pro-', 'grams,', 'as', 'well', 'as', 'those', 'previously', 'sub-', 'sidized', 'by', 'the', 'federal', 'government', 'such', 'as', 'schools,', 'highways', 'and', 'prisons.', 'No', 'one', 'would', 'argue', 'that', 'good', 'schools', "aren't", 'important,', 'that', 'highways', 'shouldn’t', 'be', 'safe', 'or', 'that', 'prisons', 'shouldn’t', 'be', ' ', '  ', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', 'general', 'fund', 'money', 'going', 'to', 'other', 'goods', 'and', 'services,', 'isn’t', 'earmarking', 'an', 'appro-', 'priate', 'way', 'of', 'funding', 'special', 'projects?', 'Ci', 'Wagner:', 'No.', 'Earmarking', 'is', 'an', 'indirect', 'way', 'of', 'charging', 'prices', 'to', 'users', 'of', 'a', 'government', 'service.', 'For', 'instance,', 'gasoline', 'taxes', 'are', 'earmarked', 'for', 'roads.', 'People', 'who', 'make', 'greater', 'use', 'of', 'the', 'roads', 'generally', 'pay', 'for', 'that', 'usage', 'through', 'the', 'gasoline', 'tax.', 'Earmarking', 'tobacco', 'taxes', 'for', 'education,', 'sewer', 'construction', 'and', 'pollution', 'control', 'would', 'not', 'represent', 'an', 'indirect', 'way', 'of', 'charging', 'smokers', 'for', 'a', 'service', 'that', 'govern-', 'ment', 'provides', 'them.', 'There', 'is', 'no', 'basis', 'for', 'saying', 'that', 'smokers', 'place', 'a', 'greater', 'demand', 'on', 'these', 'systems', 'than', 'do', 'nonsmokers.', 'WE', 'The', 'Observer:', 'How', 'would', 'an', 'increase', 'in', 'the', 'cigarette', 'excise', 'tax', 'affect', 'the', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'and', 'the', 'economy?', 'C]', 'Wagner:', 'Badly.', 'When', 'the', 'federal', 'cigarette', 'excise', 'tax', 'was', 'doubled', 'in', 'January', '1983', 'from', '8', 'to', '16', 'cents,', 'the', 'industry', 'esti-', 'mated', '14,600', 'workers', 'lost', 'opportunities', 'for', 'jobs', 'in', 'the', 'manufacture', 'and', 'distribution', 'of', 'tobacco.', 'This,', 'coupled', 'with', 'the', 'loss', 'in', 'sales', 'of', '29.6', 'million', 'pounds', 'of', 'tobacco,', 'resulted', 'in', 'a', '$800', 'million', 'reduction', 'in', 'the', 'Gross', 'National', 'Product', '(GNP).', 'The', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'makes', 'a', 'significant', 'contribution', 'to', 'the', 'nationwide', 'economy.', 'According', 'to', 'a', 'recent', 'study', 'conducted', 'by', 'Chase', 'Econometrics,', 'tobacco', 'supports', 'approximately', '710,000', 'jobs', 'in', 'the', 'core', 'tobacco', 'industry', 'and', 'other', 'related', 'indus-', 'tries', 'and', 'generates', 'approximately', '$18.9', 'billion', 'in', 'wages', 'annually.', 'The', 'industry', 'con-', 'tributes', 'an', 'estimated', '$31.5', 'billion', 'to', 'the', 'GNP.', 'These', 'contributions', 'are', 'often', 'over-', 'looked', 'when', 'legislators', 'are', 'searching', 'for', 'revenue.', 'But', 'they', 'cannot', 'be', 'ignored.', 'secure.', 'But', 'government', 'programs', 'that', 'benefit', 'all', 'of', 'society', 'should', 'be', 'supported', 'by', 'general', 'tax', 'dollars', 'and', 'not', 'by', 'arbitrary', 'or', 'selective', 'taxes', 'on', 'cigarettes', 'and', 'other', 'consumer', 'products.', '“$39.71', 'FOR', 'EVERY', 'MAN,', 'WOMAN', 'AND', 'CHILD”', 'Smokers', 'paid', 'more', 'than', '$9.6', 'billion', 'in', 'federal,', 'state,', 'and', 'municipal', 'excise', 'taxes—', 'or', 'the', 'equivalent', 'of', '$39.71', 'for', 'every', 'man,', 'woman', 'and', 'child', 'in', 'the', 'United', 'States—in', 'the', 'fiscal', 'year', 'ending', 'June', '30,', '1987.', 'This', 'figure', 'could', 'increase', 'dramatically', 'over-', 'night', 'unless', 'cigarette', 'excise', 'tax', 'measures', 'are', 'stopped.', 'Write', 'a', 'letter', 'to', 'your', 'local,', 'state', 'and', 'federal', 'officials', 'expressing', 'your', 'opposition', 'to', 'excise', 'taxes,', 'or', 'contact', 'The', 'Tobacco', 'Institute', 'for', 'more', 'information', 'on', 'how', 'you', 'can', 'help', 'in', 'the', 'fight', 'against', 'unfair', 'taxation.', '  ', ' ', ' ', '   ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '    ']