Committee Approves 40-Cent Cigarette Tax Increase

[CMF Newsman]

The House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday approved Gov. Phil Bredesen's "Schools First" funding plan, including a new 40-cent cigarette tax.

The panel sent an amended version of the bill to the House Finance Committee.

Gov. Bredesen said, "I am pleased that the Schools First funding plan is advancing in the General Assembly despite strong opposition from the cigarette companies and their lobbyists.

"Our schools need these new dollars and I will continue to work with the General Assembly to gain final approval for Schools First and for the full 40-cent increase in the cigarette tax for our schools.

www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_105211.asp

[Jay]

I'm glad I don't smoke.... Prices keep going higher and higher... Well, at least we're not in NY....prices are even crazier up there..

[el Gusano]

I wonder how the prices here compare to other places? I saw an ad on the door to a store the other day that advertised the sale price for generics at $55.00 per carton. At the discount tobacco place, name brands are $60.00 per carton.

[Jay]

That's really, really expensive, heh

Around here they're like half as much

[Bloodhound]

The Patch is cheaper, and it works.

[tncoaster37]

This is a crock of crap. We all know that any taxes will go to the general fund and get wasted no matter what they are for. I am tired of hearing that it's for the kids on any new taxes. Where is all the money from the lottery going. They claim that over $900 million was sent to the school systems but where is it really. Certainly it's not being used in Chattanooga. Maybe it's time to give the governor a new message. NO MORE TAXES until we get an accountability for all the lottery money that was supposed to go the schools.

[daworm]

Coaster, the lottery money was for COLLEGE scholarships and PRE-K programs. Not one dime was ever intended for the school systems, nor was it ever presented as such.

[Felix]

Regarding the lottery, Da Worm instructed Coaster:

Not one dime was ever intended for the school systems, nor was it ever presented as such.

Exactly. And much of the reason for that limitation is the unreliability of city/county/state legislatures in using targeted funding as intended. The temptation to patch up the general budget with such funding is too great.

Look what happened the funds for treating tobacco-related diseases, here in Tennessee. The legislature tapped that right down to zero to shore up the budget. I think it all went in one year, if memory serves. If the lottery proceeds were to go to the state for educational uses, no telling where the money would end up.

[traveler]

The legislature tapped that right down to zero to shore up the budget.

Marvell, I don't think that is completely accurate...at least not in big picture. Tennessee currently enjoys a very healthy rainy day fund due to the strength of the national economy (thanks to the Bush tax cuts by they way) so there is a significant revenue surplus coming from somewhere. It is several hundred million dollars at this point, if my memory is correct. The fact that all monies, with the exception of road funds, flow through the general fund makes it difficult to specifically follow the money from one source so it is impossible to really say that monies from one source were used for one purpose. That may be kind of a clunky comment but I think I am getting my point across.

[Gary]

Traveler, the financial shakedown of Big Tobbacco was supposed to be used for smoking cessation programs and the like. Not one program was launched or funded using the settlement money - a pretty big story the Tennessean profiled a few years back, if memory serves.

And I agree with Coaster on this one - the increase in revenue will not end up trickling back to the schools. It's just a simple tax increase that gets supported because it 1) targets those nasty smokers, and 2) it's "for the children".

Whenever I hear a politician say something is "for the children", I immediately grab my wallet and keep a close eye on the person, in case he makes sudden moves or starts biting people.

[gridbug]

So if the student that receives a scholarship smokes, it's more of a loan?

[voxpopuli]

There must be a major seismic event on the way, for I find myself agreeing with both TNCoaster and Gary. It's making me a bit ill, in fact.

This is nothing but another tax-n-spend money grab by the Democrats in the legislature, with backing from a few weaselly Republicans.

It has nothing to do with public health, nothing to do with improving education (change the BEP to make the tax allocations equitable statewide if you want to do that), and everything to do with stuffing the state coffers even more to fund pet projects and furthering TDOT's goal to pave every last square inch of Tennessee.

[Gary]

> It's making me a bit ill, in fact.

Try some of these:

[ruttco]

I just got back from Texas and I paid $9.97 for 2 packs of Camel Lights. That made me a bit ill.

[Felix]

Gary, pulling some files from the vault, observed, re: Tobacco settlement money:

Not one program was launched or funded using
the settlement money - a pretty big story the
Tennessean profiled a few years back, if memory serves.

Exactly, Gary. I was not referring to current budget prospects. Just giving a local example of what can happen to money when the legislature finds more inviting projects to fund than those intended.

[Jay]

It's more of the evil big government......I'd vote for Robin Williams for president

[kroisis]

PLEASE!

Won't SOMEBODY think of
the CHILDREN!?!?!??!

[Longshot! [ Saint ]]

Goddammit.

I'm taking it back up--Stat.


(Seriously, my gay-assed tipped cigars are a pleasure and an offensive habit all in one; Pray Hell they do NOT jack the cost of those up, too...or there'll be 'Shot! to Pay.

[tcrashfx]

Maybe if they used all the extra Lottery money to buy me some heroin patches, I could quit.

I read the other day that people who consume copious amounts of coffee, drink beer, have stressful jobs and smoke have a zero chance of getting Parkinson's disease.

But it may be because we are dead before even the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease present themselves.

So, I got that goin' for me!

[traveler]

Traveler, the financial shakedown of Big Tobbacco was supposed to be used for smoking cessation programs and the like.

I realize what the settlement was intended for but my point is that all monies flowing into the state will go to the general fund to be disbursed at the discretion of the legislature. The legislature is not bound to spend the monies in any particular manner, especially the punitive portion, and I do not know if any programs were established or not by the legislature. I also do not recall the details of the settlement but I suspect a small portion was compensatory and the big chunk was punitive. If that is the case, I further suspect that conditions can only be put on the compensatory damages and not the punitive portion. If that is the case, I would be willing to bet that the state has met whatever conditions were actually set by the settlement agreement in terms of programs, etc.

Having said all that, I agree that the 40 cent tax increase is nothing but another money grab on the part of the Governor and his willing accomplices in the legislature.

[kroisis]

Come on people!
Let's get behind this!

We can't let the children go without textbooks!!!!

[tncoaster37]

When I took governmental accounting a few years ago. We did a segment of our final on the tobacco settlement funds (This was before the actaully settlement came into play). According to the scenario, it all went into the general fund which was spent other matters instead of what it was intended for. Anything that government gets involved always turns into a major snafu. The lottery money should have went to fund the entire school system. Every year, we hear in this city how the schools need more money and it's for the "children." When I hear the words, "its for the children" I want to tell the politicians until the feds start kicking thier share of the no child left behind programs then we don't pay it.

[Gary]

> The lottery money should have went to fund the entire school system.

I disagree, and I'll explain why.

I have now lived in three states that have started a lottery while I was living there (coincidentally, all three started by Rebecca Paul, who obviously is stalking me).

When it was started in Florida, the system that Coaster wants is what was done - all the monies were earmarked for education. So, what the legislature did was estimate how much money would come from the lottery, and pull that amount of money from the education budget.

Instead, what happened was the lottery projections were off, and the money that came in was less than what had been expected. So, as a result, the education budget was short-changed.

That is why when Georgia and then Tennessee started their lotteries, they made certain that the legislature couldn't simply grab the money for whatever purpose they wanted (like what happened to the tobacco settlement money) and earmarked them for specific programs like Pre-K and college scholarships.

[tncoaster37]

Gary, what I meant was that the education budget that the state of TN has should also go for where it needs to go along side the 900 million. Just think if Tn did that, we would be near the top in education status across this nation. More than likely, we will be in the top of having the numbers going to college and also the lowest in the negative areas.

We should have learned a lesson from Washinton DC where they spend the most per pupil and yet they have the highest numbers in the negative areas.

[Warkitty]

Can I ask...



I keep hearing "tax and spend" like its a horrible thing. Would you rather taxes without ANY programs? Perhaps no road and infrastructure improvements, so we don't "tax and spend." Perhaps no education programs at all, so we can avoid all that taxing and most of all, spending.


I mean, really. If the Government isn't going to spend the taxes on the people its supposed to serve, why have it? I mean, why have Government, let alone taxes?

Also, "tax and spend" is spewed as being something only Democrats do. Who's been in power the past 8 years... taxing and yes, spending?

Just a few thoughts.

[traveler]

Monies flowing into the general fund from the lottery are not technically earmarked. They simply go into the fund and become part of the overall budget. The Tennessee Constitution does not allow for specific earmarking of funds coming from the legislature.

Regarding NCLB funding, the state of Tennessee received $328 million in 2007 and will receive an estimated $341 million for $2008. NCLB may have some flaws but, contrary to popular rhetoric, it is not underfunded.

[tncoaster37]

Traveler, things were fine without the NCLB. In fact, it was when NCLB started that you heard the cries about how we need another sales tax increase and "its for the children" crap.

[daworm]

I keep hearing "tax and spend" like its a horrible thing.

It can be, depending on what you spend the taxes on. Or, in the case of roads and the like, it can be a great thing. But when people complain about "tax and spend" what they are complaining about is the typical liberal response to a problem, any problem: create a tax and throw money at it. Next problem, add another tax, and so on, until there are so many taxes there's no money left for you and me to live on.

[Warkitty]

I find it all too often applied to any program that a democrat suggests, including roads and infrastructures. Very partisan phrasing, and a phrasing I find rather humorous because it suggests the speaker doesn't believe our tax monies should be spent.

*shrug*

It would be nice if the money budgeted to education was actually doing some good for the students though. I'm with everyone else here saying we need to toss out everyone administering it now and get an overhaul.

[gridbug]

Also, "tax and spend" is spewed as being something only Democrats do. Who's been in power the past 8 years... taxing and yes, spending?

Nice observation - obviously that makes repubs "Tax and Save". We'll be free of that deficit in no time!

Oh wait - they are more the type for "Tax and Fill our Pockets"...