{"id":8410,"date":"2016-09-27T19:13:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T19:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/09\/27\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking\/"},"modified":"2016-09-27T19:13:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T19:13:00","slug":"would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking\/","title":{"rendered":"Would California&#039;s Proposed Tobacco Tax Hike Reduce Smoking?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-style:italic;font-size:16px\">By  <a class=\"colorbox\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/09\/27\/495439481\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=healthcare\">April Dembosky<\/a><\/span>  <\/p>\n<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/09\/27\/495439481\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=healthcare\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/09\/27\/cigarettes_custom-f3e4bb23fe1542a399a271372f3c1880bcf8eb74-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><button>Enlarge this image<\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Backers of California&#8217;s Proposition 56 hope to hit people hard enough in the wallet that they quit smoking. <strong>Paul Sancya\/AP<\/strong> <strong>hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>toggle caption<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><span>Paul Sancya\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Each time New York state increased its tobacco tax \u2014 now at $4.35 per pack of cigarettes \u2014 calls to the state&#8217;s Quitline spiked.<\/p>\n<p>In New York City, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2013\/12\/27\/257646680\/new-york-citys-bloomberg-leaves-mixed-results-on-health\">hiked the tax<\/a> even more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was so angry with him, I could hardly afford it,&#8221; says Elizabeth Lane, a Harlem resident who paid $12 a pack. &#8220;I had to beg, borrow and steal to get money to buy cigarettes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At first, Lane cut down to four packs a week from seven. But even so, she sometimes didn&#8217;t have money to buy laundry detergent or toilet paper. Then in 2013, after smoking for 40 years, the price tag, her doctor&#8217;s warnings and her daughter&#8217;s guilt trips all came together.<\/p>\n<p>She quit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I said, &#8216;Lord, I&#8217;ve been waiting a long time for this. When will you answer my prayer?&#8217; &#8221; she says. &#8220;And he answered this time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Four states will vote on whether to raise their tobacco tax in November: California (by $2), Colorado ($1.75), North Dakota ($1.76) and Missouri (15 cents). California currently has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the country: 87 cents per pack. If voters pass <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oag.ca.gov\/system\/files\/initiatives\/pdfs\/15-0081%20(Tobacco%20Tax%20V3).pdf\">Proposition 56<\/a> in November, the tax would go up to $2.87 a pack. Backers of the measure, including the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, hope to hit people hard enough in the wallet that they quit smoking, or never start.<\/p>\n<p>Studies support the goal. For every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, smoking goes down 4 percent, according to a <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.surgeongeneral.gov\/library\/reports\/50-years-of-progress\/index.html\">2014 report<\/a> on smoking by the U.S. surgeon general.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Part of that is people quitting. Part of that is people cutting down,&#8221; says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.<\/p>\n<p>In New York City, smoking rates declined from <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wnyc.org\/story\/bloomberg-pushed-new-yorkers-health-and-often-they-pushed-back\/\">22 percent<\/a> of adults to <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\/prevention\/tobacco_control\/reports\/statshots\/volume9\/n3_county_adult_smoking_prevalence.pdf%5D\">13 percent<\/a> in the 12 years after the tax, and a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, was implemented.<\/p>\n<p>California&#8217;s smoking rate is about 12 percent, the second lowest in the country after Utah. Most people in California who do smoke, Glantz says, don&#8217;t smoke that much.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It may be that a price increase that will follow Prop. 56 will be enough to just get these light, intermittent smokers to just say, &#8216;Forget it,&#8217; &#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>Behavioral economist Justin White, a colleague of Glantz&#8217;s, says the vast majority of smokers wish they could quit. They know it&#8217;s bad for them. But addiction is a powerful force.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s this universal tendency toward immediate gratification,&#8221; White says.<\/p>\n<p>The craving for a cigarette right now easily overwhelms fears of heart disease or lung cancer in the future. But, White says, a cigarette tax that is high enough can flip that. A tax evident at the time of purchase has the power to compete with the desire for a cigarette.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Increasing taxes is a way to really bring that back to equilibrium, the cost in the future versus the benefits now,&#8221; White says.<\/p>\n<p>The question is, how much. He says a $1 or $2 tax is enough to sway smokers with a mild self-control problem. But for smokers with a strong addiction, the tax needs to be between $5 and $10 to work.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, White says, a tax is most effective when paired with support from a cessation program.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where opponents have been digging into Proposition 56. The &#8220;No on 56&#8221; campaign, backed by tobacco companies R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, has raised $56 million to defeat the measure. Supporters have raised $17.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents are investing in <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/audio.californiareport.org\/archive\/R201609160850\/b\">radio ads<\/a> that say proponents &#8220;are telling us Proposition 56 is all about helping people stop smoking. But follow the money, and you&#8217;ll find out that only 13 percent of the new taxes would actually help people quit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is true. Of the <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lao.ca.gov\/BallotAnalysis\/Proposition?number=56&amp;year=2016\">$1.4 billion<\/a> that Proposition 56 is expected to raise from the tax, 13 percent would go to the state&#8217;s cessation programs. The rest of the tax money would go to Medi-Cal, the state&#8217;s low-income health care program, which covers care for one in three Californians.<\/p>\n<p>But UCSF professor Glantz says that $100 million for smoking-cessation programs is enough money to fully serve all would-be quitters who need help.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents ultimately reject the tax, no matter how the revenues would be spent.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m opposed to every manner of taxing,&#8221; says Steven Greenhut, Western Region director for the R Street Institute, a free market think tank that promotes limited government. &#8220;Let people make their own choices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He doesn&#8217;t like that Proposition 56 would tax e-cigarettes, too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Vaping is not entirely safe,&#8221; he says. &#8220;But it&#8217;s pretty clear that vaping is far less harmful than smoking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Early studies suggest that e-cigarettes may have fewer health effects than cigarettes. Still, <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2016\/05\/10\/2016-10685\/deeming-tobacco-products-to-be-subject-to-the-federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act-as-amended-by-the\">in a proposal to regulate e-cigarettes<\/a> that became effective in August, the Food and Drug Administration said that some studies have found toxic material in e-cigarette liquid and the exhaled vapor. But, the agency said, &#8220;we do not have sufficient data to determine what effects e-cigarettes have on public health at the population level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In any event, Greenhut says it&#8217;s premature to tax e-cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p>For Elizabeth Lane in New York, the nicotine patch was her ticket to quitting. Now, she no longer huffs and puffs when she walks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can walk up stairs. I don&#8217;t cough,&#8221; she says. &#8220;And the circulation in my legs has improved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She says now she saves the money that she used to spend on cigarettes so she can buy birthday and Christmas presents for her daughter and granddaughter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Instead of being on the receiving end all the time, you know, give me, give me, give me,&#8221; she says, &#8220;I can give now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, KQED, WNYC and <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaiserhealthnews.org\/\">Kaiser Health News<\/a>. WNYC&#8217;s Fred Mogul contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source:: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/09\/27\/495439481\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=healthcare\" class=\"colorbox\" title=\"Would California&#039;s Proposed Tobacco Tax Hike Reduce Smoking?\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/09\/27\/495439481\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=healthcare<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ftpimagefix\" style=\"float:left\"><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2016\/09\/27\/495439481\/would-californias-proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-reduce-smoking?utm_medium=RSS&amp;utm_campaign=healthcare\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2016\/09\/27\/cigarettes_custom-f3e4bb23fe1542a399a271372f3c1880bcf8eb74-s1100-c15.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><button>Enlarge this image<\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Backers of California&#8217;s Proposition 56 hope to hit people hard enough in the wallet that they quit smoking. <strong>Paul Sancya\/AP<\/strong> <strong>hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>toggle caption<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><span>Paul Sancya\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Each time New York state increased its tobacco tax \u2014 now at $4.35 per pack of cigarettes \u2014 calls to the state&#8217;s Quitline spiked.<\/p>\n<p>In New York City, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2013\/12\/27\/257646680\/new-york-citys-bloomberg-leaves-mixed-results-on-health\">hiked the tax<\/a> even more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was so angry with him, I could hardly afford it,&#8221; says Elizabeth Lane, a Harlem resident who paid $12 a pack. &#8220;I had to beg, borrow and steal to get money to buy cigarettes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At first, Lane cut down to four packs a week from seven. But even so, she sometimes didn&#8217;t have money to buy laundry detergent or toilet paper. Then in 2013, after smoking for 40 years, the price tag, her doctor&#8217;s warnings and her daughter&#8217;s guilt trips all came together.<\/p>\n<p>She quit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I said, &#8216;Lord, I&#8217;ve been waiting a long time for this. When will you answer my prayer?&#8217; &#8221; she says. &#8220;And he answered this time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Four states will vote on whether to raise their tobacco tax in November: California (by $2), Colorado ($1.75), North Dakota ($1.76) and Missouri (15 cents). California currently has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the country: 87 cents per pack. If voters pass <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oag.ca.gov\/system\/files\/initiatives\/pdfs\/15-0081%20(Tobacco%20Tax%20V3).pdf\">Proposition 56<\/a> in November, the tax would go up to $2.87 a pack. Backers of the measure, including the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, hope to hit people hard enough in the wallet that they quit smoking, or never start.<\/p>\n<p>Studies support the goal. For every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, smoking goes down 4 percent, according to a <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.surgeongeneral.gov\/library\/reports\/50-years-of-progress\/index.html\">2014 report<\/a> on smoking by the U.S. surgeon general.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Part of that is people quitting. Part of that is people cutting down,&#8221; says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.<\/p>\n<p>In New York City, smoking rates declined from <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wnyc.org\/story\/bloomberg-pushed-new-yorkers-health-and-often-they-pushed-back\/\">22 percent<\/a> of adults to <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.health.ny.gov\/prevention\/tobacco_control\/reports\/statshots\/volume9\/n3_county_adult_smoking_prevalence.pdf%5D\">13 percent<\/a> in the 12 years after the tax, and a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, was implemented.<\/p>\n<p>California&#8217;s smoking rate is about 12 percent, the second lowest in the country after Utah. Most people in California who do smoke, Glantz says, don&#8217;t smoke that much.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It may be that a price increase that will follow Prop. 56 will be enough to just get these light, intermittent smokers to just say, &#8216;Forget it,&#8217; &#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>Behavioral economist Justin White, a colleague of Glantz&#8217;s, says the vast majority of smokers wish they could quit. They know it&#8217;s bad for them. But addiction is a powerful force.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s this universal tendency toward immediate gratification,&#8221; White says.<\/p>\n<p>The craving for a cigarette right now easily overwhelms fears of heart disease or lung cancer in the future. But, White says, a cigarette tax that is high enough can flip that. A tax evident at the time of purchase has the power to compete with the desire for a cigarette.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Increasing taxes is a way to really bring that back to equilibrium, the cost in the future versus the benefits now,&#8221; White says.<\/p>\n<p>The question is, how much. He says a $1 or $2 tax is enough to sway smokers with a mild self-control problem. But for smokers with a strong addiction, the tax needs to be between $5 and $10 to work.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, White says, a tax is most effective when paired with support from a cessation program.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where opponents have been digging into Proposition 56. The &#8220;No on 56&#8221; campaign, backed by tobacco companies R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, has raised $56 million to defeat the measure. Supporters have raised $17.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents are investing in <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/audio.californiareport.org\/archive\/R201609160850\/b\">radio ads<\/a> that say proponents &#8220;are telling us Proposition 56 is all about helping people stop smoking. But follow the money, and you&#8217;ll find out that only 13 percent of the new taxes would actually help people quit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is true. Of the <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lao.ca.gov\/BallotAnalysis\/Proposition?number=56&amp;year=2016\">$1.4 billion<\/a> that Proposition 56 is expected to raise from the tax, 13 percent would go to the state&#8217;s cessation programs. The rest of the tax money would go to Medi-Cal, the state&#8217;s low-income health care program, which covers care for one in three Californians.<\/p>\n<p>But UCSF professor Glantz says that $100 million for smoking-cessation programs is enough money to fully serve all would-be quitters who need help.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents ultimately reject the tax, no matter how the revenues would be spent.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m opposed to every manner of taxing,&#8221; says Steven Greenhut, Western Region director for the R Street Institute, a free market think tank that promotes limited government. &#8220;Let people make their own choices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He doesn&#8217;t like that Proposition 56 would tax e-cigarettes, too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Vaping is not entirely safe,&#8221; he says. &#8220;But it&#8217;s pretty clear that vaping is far less harmful than smoking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Early studies suggest that e-cigarettes may have fewer health effects than cigarettes. Still, <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2016\/05\/10\/2016-10685\/deeming-tobacco-products-to-be-subject-to-the-federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act-as-amended-by-the\">in a proposal to regulate e-cigarettes<\/a> that became effective in August, the Food and Drug Administration said that some studies have found toxic material in e-cigarette liquid and the exhaled vapor. But, the agency said, &#8220;we do not have sufficient data to determine what effects e-cigarettes have on public health at the population level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In any event, Greenhut says it&#8217;s premature to tax e-cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p>For Elizabeth Lane in New York, the nicotine patch was her ticket to quitting. Now, she no longer huffs and puffs when she walks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can walk up stairs. I don&#8217;t cough,&#8221; she says. &#8220;And the circulation in my legs has improved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She says now she saves the money that she used to spend on cigarettes so she can buy birthday and Christmas presents for her daughter and granddaughter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Instead of being on the receiving end all the time, you know, give me, give me, give me,&#8221; she says, &#8220;I can give now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, KQED, WNYC and <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaiserhealthnews.org\/\">Kaiser Health News<\/a>. WNYC&#8217;s Fred Mogul contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/\">Let&#8217;s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> <a class=\"colorbox\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/fivefilters\/block-ads\/wiki\/There-are-no-acceptable-ads\">(Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}