Tax hikes stoke Americans to give up smoking
When the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes increased almost threefold, the American Cancer Society's smoking quitline in the Washington area was flooded with calls from smokers desperate to kick the habit.
Normally the quitline gets between 10 and 12 calls per day -- but on April 1, the day the tax went into effect, the group said its telephone help service for the area around the US capital received 131 calls.
At the American Lung Association's office in southeast Washington, smoking cessation telephone counselor Robert Wright has had his ear glued to the receiver since that day.
"To give you an idea, we normally would get something like 160 calls a month. On the day the tax went up, we got 139 calls and it's been like that ever since," he told AFP.
A survey conducted by pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Smith Kline, which makes nicotine-substitute chewing gum Nicorette, showed that raising taxes on cigarettes pushed 72 percent of smokers to make an attempt to quit.
Glaxo has also noticed that sales of Nicorette have gone up in the past when taxes on tobacco are raised.
"We do see an uptick in sales when they put up taxes. It does give more people an incentive to try to quit," Glaxo spokeswoman Jennifer May told AFP.
Mildred Morse, a trainer-facilitator at a church-based smoking cessation program named GOSPEL (Glorifying Our Spiritual and Physical Existence for Life), said people who attend the weekly sessions are "very mindful of the cost" of their nicotine habit.
"Everyone has articulated very clearly that the high cost is one reason they are trying to quit," Morse told AFP.
The federal tax on a pack of cigarettes went from 39 cents to just over one dollar on April 1.
Federal taxes on rolling tobacco, which used to be 1.09 dollars per pound, soared to 24.78 dollars a pound, while taxes on small cigars went up from 1.82 dollars per 1,000 to 50.33 dollars.
Revenue raised by the tobacco tax hikes will help to fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a federal program that helps states provide health insurance to low-income families with children.
The tax hikes and the US economic downturn are dealing a double blow to low-income households, statistically those most likely to suffer the brunt of layoffs and where smokers are found.
A poll by the Pew Research center showed that around one third of US smokers earn less than 30,000 dollars a year, and nearly two-thirds earn less than 50,000 dollars a year.
In contrast, only 13 percent of smokers in the United States earn more than 100,000 dollars annually.
"The poor have greater stressors, and stressors are triggers for the use of tobacco," said Morse.
At the smoking cessation meetings she hosts in Wheaton, Maryland, Morse recommends that people who want to kick the habit use everything from pharmaceutical aids to help from above.
"I recommend things like nicotine gum, patches, lozenges and also pharmaceuticals without nicotine, like Zyban and Chantix, but only if people also have counseling, because people have to understand why they smoke if they are going to be able to kick the habit," she said.
"I also encourage people to pray if it helps them, but it isn't a curriculum requirement," she added.
AFP
