Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — Supporters of a bill to increase the cigarette tax by 55 cents per pack turned out in force Tuesday as hearings on the measure began in the Senate Assessment & Taxation Committee.

Representatives of more than a dozen groups and agencies spoke or offered written testimony in favor of the proposal, which also would increase the excise tax on other tobacco products such as snuff and cigars.

Roderick Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told committee members that sick smokers result in annual health care costs statewide of about $927 million, including about $196 million a year for the state Medicaid program.

"That's the equivalent of $10.32 per pack hidden tax on non-smokers," Bremby said of the costs associated with smoking.

Other supporters of Senate Bill 516 urged the committee to go ahead and increase the tax by $1 per pack instead of 55 cents.

Mary Jane Hellebust of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition showed senators a picture of a young man who had cancer "probably from smokeless tobacco" and said raising the tax from 10 percent to 40 percent of wholesale price for other tobacco products such as snuff and cigars was "way over due."

Groups heavily dependent on state funding, such as the Kansas Association of School Boards, also endorsed the tax increase saying it would bring much needed revenue into state coffers.

According to budget analysts, raising the tobacco tax to $1.34 per pack would bring in about $51.9 million more per year.

Lawmakers face a potential $500 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and several have said a tobacco tax increase is likely to gain approval this year.

Daniel McGoldrick, vice president of research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said lawmakers should ignore opponents of the tax increase who warn that it would lead Kansans to buy cigarettes in neighboring states with lower taxes.

The state last increased the tobacco tax in 2002, raising it from 24 cents to 79 cents a pack.

"While revenues from the tobacco tax increased by 140 percent in Kansas," McGoldrick said, "the largest increase in any border state except Nebraska, which had its own tax increase, was 6.4 percent in Missouri. So, Kansas saw consumption decline and took in almost $70 million in new revenue while Missouri, a much larger state, saw tobacco sales increase and brought in only $6 million in new revenue. Which state would you rather be?"

Opponents of the measure are scheduled to testify Wednesday.

Senate Bill 516 included the tobacco tax increase and Gov. Mark Parkinson's proposal for a 1 cent increase in the general state sales tax.

The committee honored the request of Chairman Les Donovan, R-Wichita, and split the two proposals.

The tobacco tax increase language was dropped into House Bill 2388.

Donovan said hearings on the general sales tax increase would likely begin Thursday and continue into next week.

After the meeting, there was informal hallway talk from some health advocates that lawmakers might also be persuaded to tax sugary drinks such as soda pop, which is considered a leading contributor to the problems of obesity and diabetes.