ANTISMOKING NEWSFILE-2

Tobacco tax worries store owners

Premium cigarettes now cost up to $6.99 a pack, and regular cigarettes cost at least $4.25.

As of yesterday, mom-and-pop stores joined gas stations in increasing the prices of cigarettes, per the law signed Feb. 5 by Gov. Felix Camacho, which increases the tobacco tax from $1 to $3.

Some customers entered stores to ask, "Have you raised your prices yet?" while others simply walked in, glanced behind the counter, and walked back out, said Na's Market manager Smith Bae.

"I'm a smoker. Even me, I try to quit," he said, a light-green pack of cigarettes jutting from his own breast pocket. "It's very hard."

As a small store manager, he said he didn't understand how a tax increase would help people's health.

"Why only for the cigarette? What about the beer?" he asked, adding alcohol has far more adverse effects than smoking, such as causing vehicle accidents and bar brawls.

After having changed the price of cigarettes yesterday, he was worried the price spike may be bad for his business, though he said it was too soon to tell.

Before the tax hike was implemented, some customers tried to buy from him in bulk.

Meanwhile, Chalan Pago resident Liz Mesa, who smokes, said it would have been hard for people to buy in bulk before the price increase due to economic conditions. Cigarettes wouldn't have been on their list of top priorities, she said.

"Most customers knew about the tax hike thanks to media coverage," said Kyong Duke, a manager at Shine Market in Chalan Pago.

However, for a few disappointed, even angry, customers, store owners had to explain yesterday the price increase was caused by a change to local law.

"Some customers, they were not too nice," Duke said.

She said tobacco sales were very slow yesterday, just as one customer came in, asked if the price had been increased, and summarily walked back out.

Money for health

The money raised by the new taxes will go into the Healthy Futures Fund, a pool of money that can be appropriated by the Legislature for health agencies, substance abuse awareness programs and public safety programs. About a third of the money will go to the hospital, the Guam Cancer Trust Fund and the Guam Cancer Registry, according to Pacific Daily News files.

According to Mesa, whose carton usually lasts her about 15 days because she's "not a heavy smoker," some other longtime smokers may find it hard to kick the habit and may just cut back on other purchases.

Mangilao resident Mary Bamba, who sat smoking at the Sunshine Plaza in Chalan Pago-Ordot, said yesterday a lot of people she knew were getting mad about the increase.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "Gas goes up 10 cents and what? Tobacco goes up (more than) a dollar? That's too much."

And if the tax hike was supposed to deter people from smoking, she said most smokers "cannot quit just like that," though the price hike may help a select few.

"Maybe 10, 20 percent will quit," Duke agreed. "They'll be shocked at first, but they're going to continue."




Utah Tobacco Tax Hike Passes

April 01, 2010 - SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah Governor Gary Herbert let a $1 per-pack cigarette tax increase go into law without his signature, The Associated Press reported.

That tax, part of House Bill 196, also raise taxes on a number of tobacco products. The tax on cigars will increase from 35 percent to 86 percent of the manufacturer's sale price, while the tax on moist snuff will rise from 75 cents to $1.83 per ounce, according to the report.

Herbert repeatedly said he opposes increasing taxes, but the tobacco tax was built into the budget to which he and legislative leaders agreed, the AP reported. And Herbert said in a statement earlier this week that it would be fiscally irresponsible for him to veto the tax, as it would create an imbalance in the state budget, particularly in the areas of public and higher education, the report stated.
The tax takes effect July 1.