By Deb Jordahl
Smoking
is a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.
How else would government continue to function?
This year alone smokers
paid nearly $300
million dollars in sales taxes to help keep the Badger state running,
and even though Wisconsin puffers came up millions short of goal, our
elected leaders should thank them for their contributions rather than
subjecting them to ridicule and exile.
Governor Doyle and the
Democrats thump their chests about the evils of smoking and claim that
raising cigarette taxes and banning smoking in bars will drive smokers to
quit. They also plan to spend every dime of estimated revenue on massive
new spending programs like Doyle’s Badger Care Plus.
So what happens in two
years when tobacco tax collections fall short again and spending rises
faster than they predict? Republicans
and Democrats alike would be hard pressed to cut health care spending, so
that leaves raiding other segregated funds and raising taxes to make up
the difference, but which funds, which taxes?
The state tobacco tax
shortage will be exacerbated by proposals to raise the federal tobacco tax
by as much as 61
cents per pack to fund an expansion of federal SCHIP funding to states
for programs like BadgerCare Plus.
The Heritage Foundation
recently estimated that 22
million new smokers would be needed by 2017 to produce enough revenue
to fund this massive expansion. So
what then? Will we see a
return of the World War II military recruitment posters with Uncle Sam
lighting up? Will the State
of Wisconsin offer smokers the option of deducting a portion of their
cigarette taxes from their state income tax?
This week the Greater
Wisconsin Committee began running ads to pressure Assembly Republicans
into passing a state budget with a $1.25 per pack tax increase on
cigarettes to fund new state spending.
The ads accuse Republicans of blocking passage of a state budget to
protect big tobacco companies. The truth is that blocking this massive tax and spending
increase may actually protect the big government programs we already have
but can’t afford.
Instead of raising taxes
and banning smoking in taverns where people go to engage in otherwise
unhealthy activities, we should declare January 15th Smoker’s
Appreciation Day in Wisconsin. Each
year on this day, the Governor would report on the amount of state revenue
smokers contributed and the crucial state programs that revenue went to
fund. Non-smoking state
employees will be asked to thank their smoking counterparts as they pass
them on the sidewalk, braving the harsh winter elements to keep the state
out of hock.