Cigarette Tax

There's a tempting carrot being dangled tantalizingly in front of state legislators by Gov. William Donald Schaefer: $70 million worth of new aid for local schools and local government programs. The temptation, though, comes with a catch. To get this money, lawmakers must raise the tobacco tax.Compounding their problem is that there is precious little in the governor's $13.5 billion budget that can be cut to make way for this package of goodies, which includes $25 million for schools (poverty grants, expansion of pre-kindergarten classes, money to help non-English-speaking students)

He's been David to so many Goliaths. Every time someone says he can't possibly overcome one force or another, he smiles and turns to his well-tended list of volunteers around the state. Or he trots out a poll showing that many Marylanders want stricter gun control, how they agree that big corporations should provide more and better health coverage for workers, or how many of them back a higher tax on cigarettes to expand health insurance coverage. He helps legislators see that a vote for his initiatives is smart politics.

Maryland House leaders unveiled a plan yesterday that would extend medical coverage to nearly 250,000 uninsured residents, a proposal that immediately ignited a debate over the key funding mechanism - a doubling of the state's cigarette tax to $2 a pack. The $600 million health care proposal aims to provide coverage for every child in Maryland by expanding Medicaid, while requiring that higher-income individuals and families buy insurance or pay a fee. It also would give subsidies to small businesses to provide insurance to workers and require that private insurers allow adults up to age 25 to stay on their parents' plan.

With two weeks left in the General Assembly's annual 90-day session, legislators face a handful of explosive issues, including a nearly fourfold increase in the cigarette tax, a ban on certain abortions and a gay rights measure -- each of which could rise or fall on the vote of a single lawmaker.Several significant bills appear headed for enactment before the session ends April 12 -- among them an ambitious scholarship program, sweeping ethics reform for lawmakers and a landmark bill giving thousands of state employees collective-bargaining rights.

No paved trail for Patapsco GreenwayRe: "The Patapsco Heritage Greenway needs vigorous public oversight" (The Sun, Jan. 28).Both the Maryland Conservation Council and the Relay Improvement Association have objected to the Patapsco Heritage Greenway and its plans for the valley.One would hope that this would awaken the public to the need for close oversight of this quasi public/private group before they spend public tax dollars on ill-conceived plans that threatens the natural beauty of the valley that they are allegedly protecting.

A basement storage room at the Maryland Comptroller's Office is rapidly filling with hundreds of cartons of cigarettes confiscated from smugglers -- a haul worth tens of thousands of dollars on the black market.Enforcement agents have lined up more storage space. They figure they are going to need it as they target bootleggers hoping to cash in on the cigarette tax increase that took effect in Maryland July 1."I really think as time goes by this situation is going to get worse," said Larry W. Tolliver, director of the comptroller's field enforcement division.

Anti-smoking groups in Maryland and neighboring states are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether cigarette makers have violated antitrust laws by cutting prices at stores near Maryland's border to boost cross-border cigarette sales.Tobacco companies deny any such discounting and say the anti-smoking groups created a cross-border smuggling problem by pushing for an increase in Maryland's tax.Maryland raised its cigarette tax July 1 from 36 cents to 66 cents per pack, the highest rate in the mid-Atlantic region.

Clergy pledges to unite for rally for cigarette taxA coalition of Maryland religious leaders pledged yesterday to mobilize their congregations to attend an Annapolis rally Monday in support of a proposed $1-a-pack state cigarette tax increase.About three dozen clergy attended a Severna Park church breakfast, promising to appear at Monday's scheduled 6: 30 p.m. event.The Rev. Larry L. Thomas Sr., president of the United Black Clergy of Anne Arundel County, which represents about 75 churches, said the anti-smoking issue is a natural for clergy, who preach that one's body is a "temple of God" to be respected.

Anti-smoking activists found an unusual spokeswoman yesterday to lobby for a proposed increase in the cigarette tax: a tobacco farm owner who is addicted to the weed.Leading the drive against teen-age smoking is Janet S. Owens, the Anne Arundel County executive, whose family has raised tobacco for generations in Bristol and who says she and her 18-year-old son smoke.Standing beside the widow of a cancer victim and wearing a button reading "Save Our Children from Big Tobacco," Owens supported legislation proposed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening that would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.More than 30 people attended the news conference in the lobby of the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

Marsha Lapin testified in favor of the governor's proposed tobacco tax increase yesterday, but not in her own voice.The Ellicott City woman's words were read to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in the gravelly Boston accent of her widower, Joel Lapin. Marsha Lapin died Sept. 7 of lung cancer at age 49.Joel Lapin was one of almost two dozen anti-tobacco activists who went to Annapolis to square off against opponents of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's plan to raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack.

Health care advocates said Monday that they had met their goal of adding 10,000 Baltimore residents to Medicaid rolls since the state expanded coverage and lowered eligibility requirements last year. Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, said that statewide, 50,000 adults have benefited from the new state health care expansion since it took effect in July of last year, and that 50,000 more children who were eligible for insurance but not yet covered have been enrolled since 2007 because of the O'Malley administration's outreach program and efforts by health care advocates.

When Maryland doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack, some residents may have found a reason to quit. Smugglers, on the other hand, seem to have found a motive to step up their activities. Since the tax increase took effect in January, agents with the Maryland Comptroller's Office have seized more than 46,000 packs of contraband cigarettes - smokes brought illegally across state lines. That's a nearly four-fold increase from about 13,000 packs seized over the same period in 2007. And in the largest bust so far this year, agents confiscated nearly 8,000 cigarette packs after stopping a man driving a Chevrolet Astro van on Interstate 495 this month.

One of the latest shortfalls to hit the state budget may also prove the healthiest: People are buying fewer cigarettes in Maryland. Sales are down 25 percent since the tax on cigarettes was doubled to $2 per pack in January; the budget approved last spring anticipated a 17 percent drop. As a result, the state comptroller's office is expected to collect $20 million to $25 million less in tobacco tax revenue in the current fiscal year. There are only two explanations for this - either smokers are buying (and smoking)

Smokers in Maryland will have to pay an extra buck to light up Tuesday when a $2 cigarette tax goes into effect statewide. The $1-a-pack increase - passed into law last month during a special session of the Maryland General Assembly - means Maryland has, with five other states, the fourth-highest cigarette tax in the nation, according to data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Maine and Michigan also have $2-a-pack levies. Baltimore smokers interviewed yesterday had mixed emotions about the increase.

House Republican leaders slammed Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to address Maryland's $1.7 billion budget deficit yesterday, saying the higher sales and cigarette taxes will hit working families hardest and even force some to move out of the state. They also chided him for calling for a November special session of the legislature to approve the package and argued that the public would have a better opportunity to weigh in during the annual three-month General Assembly session, which starts in January.

By a lopsided vote last Friday, the House of Delegates approved a bill to dramatically reduce the number of Maryland residents without health care insurance - a proposal financed mostly by doubling the state's tobacco tax. It's a bill that would put Maryland on the map in terms of health care reform. Even skeptics suspect that a majority of senators would vote for the bill if they had the chance. But it's unlikely they will get it. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller is adamantly opposed to raising the cigarette tax by $1 a pack - at least for this year.

He's been David to so many Goliaths. Every time someone says he can't possibly overcome one force or another, he smiles and turns to his well-tended list of volunteers around the state. Or he trots out a poll showing that many Marylanders want stricter gun control, how they agree that big corporations should provide more and better health coverage for workers, or how many of them back a higher tax on cigarettes to expand health insurance coverage. He helps legislators see that a vote for his initiatives is smart politics.

State cannot afford to expand Medicaid It's disappointing that The Sun's editorial "Health care or stall" (Feb. 9) took state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to task for refusing to consider a bill to raise cigarette taxes and use part of that money to fund an expansion of Medicaid coverage. Whatever Mr. Miller's reason for opposing the new spending, he should be applauded, not disparaged. Expanding Medicaid coverage is a bad idea for Maryland taxpayers. Maryland is facing a large budget shortfall, which is largely the result of projected increases in Medicaid spending.

Maryland House leaders unveiled a plan yesterday that would extend medical coverage to nearly 250,000 uninsured residents, a proposal that immediately ignited a debate over the key funding mechanism - a doubling of the state's cigarette tax to $2 a pack. The $600 million health care proposal aims to provide coverage for every child in Maryland by expanding Medicaid, while requiring that higher-income individuals and families buy insurance or pay a fee. It also would give subsidies to small businesses to provide insurance to workers and require that private insurers allow adults up to age 25 to stay on their parents' plan.

Lawmakers to push $2 cigarette tax State legislators say they will continue to push for a cigarette tax increase to expand Medicaid and pay for drug treatment programs despite Gov. Martin O'Malley's stance against raising taxes in his first year in office. "I know he said he's not going to initiate any new taxes," said Del. James W. Hubbard, a Prince George's County Democrat. "That's fine. He's not going to initiate this. We're going to initiate this and put it on his desk." Hubbard and other backers of the so-called Healthy Maryland Initiative announced at a news conference yesterday that they plan to file legislation within days that would double the cigarette tax to $2 a pack.