ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150090
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
CREDIT SEN. Madison Marye of Shawsville with political guts. No doubt the tobacco industry's cavalry is already circling the statehouse, its big guns ready to blast away at Marye's proposed cigarette-tax increase.
Marye's modest proposal - raising the tax by only 10 cents a pack, at the rate of 2.5 cents a year over a five-year period - is actually too modest. Virginia's 2.5 cents-a-pack excise tax, the lowest in the nation, should be raised much higher. The higher the cost of a pack, the fewer the underage smokers.
Marye is also the author of the state law that prohibits the sale of tobacco products to minors - a law, unfortunately, that's never been enforced. Marye might expect more support for his tax proposal if he emphasized the smoking-prevention benefits, especially with adolescents. Polls show that most Virginians, including adult smokers, want tobacco products kept out of children's hands.
Cigarette manufacturers, who claim to have no interest in hooking kids on cigarettes, might even have a harder time opposing a tax increase couched in those terms.
Instead, Marye is emphasizing the revenue his measure would raise for the state: about $15 million a year. The money, of course, could be put to good use. But $15 million is chump change in the state's multibillion-dollar annual budget - and with a projected revenue surplus in the coming year, it's not likely to convert many anticipated no votes to yes votes.
It might be helpful, too, if Marye appeared less pessimistic about his measure's prospects for passage. The legislature has a long and ignominious history of toadying to tobacco interests. But he shouldn't concede defeat before the battle has been joined. People's attitudes about tobacco are changing - even in Virginia.
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB