People have the right to kill themselves by smoking cigarettes, but why not fix the state deficit at the same time? Let’s raise the taxes on cigarettes and legalize marijuana so we can raise revenue for our budget.
Raising cigarette taxes is a win-win for healthcare and the budget. Cigarettes are addicting and terrible for your health. By raising the taxes on cigarettes, people won’t be able to afford as many of them and will have to either settle for less or pay for their carcinogen addiction.
According to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, about $1.89 billion in healthcare cost in Louisiana are directly caused by smoking annually. The state’s Medicaid program covers $803 million of the cost. If even five percent of smokers had to stop because of higher cost, we could reduce our state’s healthcare cost by almost $95 million.
In 2014, the state made only about $140 million from tobacco taxes. But when the tax increased from 36 to 86 cents in 2015, state tobacco revenue increased to $280 million. We raised other taxes as well, but doubling the revenue shows that the state can make some money while saving lives.
The state could take in more than $400 million if we raised our cigarette tax to the national average of $1.59 per pack. That estimate accounts for quitters and people buying less, but Louisiana has 831,000 adult smokers. I doubt enough people will quit cancer roulette to make a difference.
But let’s pretend that half of those smokers decided to quit. We’d still come out ahead.
Hypothetically, if 50 percent of people decide to quit smoking because of the increased taxes, state Medicaid cost would plummet by a little more than $400 million.
The benefits of increasing tobacco taxes are obvious. Why bring marijuana into the conversation?
Besauce it’s “new,” it’s untaxed and it should be legal in the state. Legalizing and taxing recreational pot in all forms could boost the state’s economy through taxes and new businesses.
Imagine how many people would buy and smoke marijuana if the legislature legalized it. Judging from LSU’s student body, people would buy marijuana as much or possibly more than they buy cigarettes. It isn’t addicting. Most people in the state are just concerned with having a good time these days.
We could tax weed as easily as cigarettes and sell it in quantities similar to alcohol. I think estimating half the population drinks alcohol isn’t a far stretch when we have things like drive-thru Daiquiri shops.
If a trend in Louisiana followed the pot sales trend in Colorado, we could be make more than $100 million annually in revenue within the first few years. Colorado made $76.2 million in marijuana tax revenue in 2014 alone. In 2015, Colorado made $86.7 million dollars by August.
We’d also reduce the incarceration rate and capacity since we could forgive all pot related incidents. Louisiana spent more than $600 million for 40,000 inmates in 2010, and costs have only gone up since then.
If Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana’s legislature can work together to raise cigarette taxes and legalize pot, we’d have a long-term solution to reduce our deficits in years to come. Politicians would upset some people by the changes, but our elected officials need to have the courage to save people from themselves.
Garrett Marcel is a 22-year-old petroleum engineering senior from Houma, Louisiana.