Cigar Weekly

 

June 16, 2009

 

The Louisiana House rejected legislation Monday that would have raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The vote was 45 for and 55 against the measure, which would have dedicated about $100 million in tax proceeds to health care.

During the 90-minute debate, about a dozen supporters, including some smokers, spoke in favor of the measure while only state Rep. Joseph Lopinto, R-Metairie, publicly opposed House Bill 889.

Lopinto argued that legislators need to “tighten our belts” in state spending before hiking up taxes.

He apparently had 54 others silently backing him up. The bill needed 70 votes, or two-thirds House approval, and fell 25 votes short.

Smokers pay 36 cents in state tax on a pack of cigarettes. The proposal would have increased the tax to 86 cents a pack. The national average is about $1.20. Taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco also would have increased.

The bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Peterson, urged her colleagues to follow their moral compasses.

The average Louisiana household spends $627 a year on taxes related to health-care costs for smoking-caused health problems, she said, whether the people in each household smoke or not.

“It (HB889) will lower the tax burden on people who work hard every day so they don’t have to pay that $627 a year,” Peterson said.

Louisiana is one of the nation’s unhealthiest states, she said, and tobacco is the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths. Nearly 25 percent of Louisiana residents smoke.

Half of the money from the increased tax would have been used to pay health-care providers who treat Medicaid patients. The rest of the money would largely be committed to cancer research and prevention programs. The Pennington Biomedical Research Center would get a share of the proceeds.

The tax increase was expected to generate about $100 million a year.

Gov. Bobby Jindal opposed the legislation, calling it an unfair tax increase on citizens during a recession. He vowed to veto it.

Some smokers such as state Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, spoke in favor of HB889.

“I’ve already had two angioplasties, and I’m still a heavy smoker,” Ritchie said. “I don’t know if 50 cents will help me quit, but I think it’ll help other people quit.”

State Rep. Hollis Downs, R-Ruston, talked about how cigarettes — “the most destructive consumer product on the face of the Earth today that’s legal” — took his father’s life.

“If I thought I could tax them out of existence, that’s what I’d do,” Downs said. “I don’t care if we take the money, put it in a bucket and burn it.”

State Rep. Walt Leger III, D-New Orleans, said the tax argument was empty.

“This anti-tax rhetoric is simply a pretext to support big tobacco,” Leger said. “You can go with Joe Camel and the Marlboro man or you can go with the people of Louisiana.”

The state is facing a $1.3 billion drop in revenue for the fiscal year that starts July 1. To address the shortfall, Jindal proposed heavy cuts to health care and higher education. The Legislature is trying to reduce some of those cuts.

Funds from HB889 could have offset some cuts to health care.

The bill initially proposed raising cigarette taxes by $1 a pack. It died in committee.

Peterson then cut the tax in half and refiled the measure.

Last week, opponents tried and failed in three separate parliamentary moves to scuttle the legislation without directly voting on HB889.

Here’s how the House voted when it killed HB889 that would have increased tobacco taxes:

VOTING FOR the tax (45): Reps. Abramson, Anders, Arnold, Aubert, A. Badon, Baldone, Barrow, Brossett, Burrell, Carmody, Carter, Chaney, Danahay, Dixon, Doerge, Downs,  Edwards,  Ellington, Ernst, Franklin, Gallot, Hardy, Harrison, Henderson, Hill,  Hines, Hoffmann,  Honey, G. Jackson, M. Jackson, R.  Jones,  LaFonta, Lambert, LeBas, Leger, Norton, Peterson, Richmond, Ritchie, Roy, G. Smith, P. Smith,  St. Germain, Stiaes and Williams.

VOTING AGAINST the tax (55): Speaker Tucker and Reps. Armes, B. Badon, Barras, Billiot, Burford, H. Burns, T. Burns, Champagne, Chandler, Connick, Cortez, Cromer, Dove, Fannin, Foil, Geymann, Gisclair, Greene, Guillory, Guinn, Hazel, Henry, Howard, Hutter, Johnson, S. Jones, Kleckley, LaBruzzo, Landry, Ligi, Little, Lopinto, McVea, Mills, Monica, Montoucet, Morris, Nowlin, Pearson, Perry, Pope, Pugh, Richard, Robideaux, Schroder, Simon, Smiley, J. Smith,  Talbot, Templet, Thibaut, Waddell, White and Willmott.

NOT VOTING (4): Reps. Katz, Ponti, Richardson and  Wooton.