Tax On Cigarettes

Bills designed to make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes from vending machines were killed yesterday in a state Senate committee, all but concluding the issue for the year.The Judicial Proceedings Committee rejected three measures pushed by anti-smoking lawmakers.Topping the list was a bill sponsored by Sen. Jennie M. Forehand, a Montgomery Democrat, which would have banned the sale of tobacco products in vending machines.The bill died when it received only four of the six votes it needed to escape the 11-member committee.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Senate approved its version of Gov. William Donald Schaefer's $11.6 billion 1992 budget yesterday, and members of both houses prepare to resolve differences between their proposals.Already, battle lines are being drawn over the different proposed tax increases the Senate and House of Delegates used to balance their budget proposals. Both houses have made millions of dollars in funding to state-supported local programs contingent on their different taxing proposals.Those differences will be worked out next week by a select conference committee of House and Senate legislators.

Snuffing out the hopes of health advocates, a Senate committee rejected legislation yesterday that would have increased the state's tax on cigarettes and created Maryland's first tax on smokeless tobacco products and cigars.The vote by the Budget and Taxation Committee effectively ends debate on the tobacco tax issue for the remainder of the General Assembly's 90-day session, lawmakers said.By the time the panel met to vote on a bill to raise the state's 36-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes by $1.50, proponents knew that the proposal had no chance of passage.

"Despite its relative prosperity, Maryland is not supporting educational excellence." This conclusion of the Linowes commission studying the state's tax structure convinced members of the blue-ribbon panel to urge a broader sales tax to assist in the upgrading of local schools. It is a trade-off that makes sense.In technical terms, Maryland's 5 percent sales tax is "underused." Only 15 percent of this state's total revenue comes from the sales tax; the national average is 25 percent.The main reason is that the Maryland sales tax applies to a narrow range of items.

ANNAPOLIS -- General Assembly leaders tentatively decided yesterday to raise more taxes than they earlier planned to provide money to Baltimore and to finance several programs for which no other cash is available.The plan, worked out in private meetings of House and Senate leaders, incorporates part or all of the revenue-raising measures previously approved by the two houses. They include higher taxes on cigarettes and capital gains and the closure of sales tax loopholes for food.In addition, Senate leaders said yesterday that they intend to support a Schaefer administration proposal to raise another $40 million for the state's depleted Transportation Trust Fund by increasing more than 100 different types of motor vehicle fees, including registration fees.

Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer declared his support for a $1 per-package increase in the tax on cigarettes yesterday and pledged to redouble efforts to prevent smuggling, which opponents of the increase say is certain if the tax is raised.If the increase is approved, Maryland smokers would face a total tax of $1.36 a package -- and have a new incentive to shop in Virginia where the levy is 2 cents a package.Opponents have been using that suggestion as leverage for votes against the measure.

Gov. Schaefer: "Do it now!"The legislature: "Mock it now; do it later!"Now that the legislative session is over, can we assess the impact of Schaefer administration initiatives on legislative behavior?The answer to that question seems to be, "Not exactly."Part of the problem is that the leaders of the legislature say one thing and doanother.And part of the problem is that the workings of the system are so labyrinthine that sometimes we simply can't determine how individuals voted.Four new taxes passed in the just completed session: an excise tax on cigarettes; a sales tax on cigarettes; a capital gains tax; a sales tax on certain institutional foods (the "snack tax")

With his quarter-a-pack tax on cigarettes the victim of election year jitters, Gov. William Donald Schaefer yesterday agreed to replace it with a plan that would raise Maryland's cigarette tax every time Congress raised the federal cigarette tax.Under the proposal, Maryland's tax would automatically rise by an amount equal to 30 percent of any new federal cigarette tax increase. If Congress raised the federal tax by $1 a pack, for example, the state tax would increase by 30 cents.In payment for their support, Mr. Schaefer agreed to send legislators a supplemental budget today that is expected to include about $20 million for schools and other programs.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Senate's budget committee voted yesterday to balance next year's budget by levying a double tax on cigarettes, taxing food served in hospital and college cafeterias and borrowing money from a state-run automobile insurance company.While it was at it, the Budget and Taxation Committee also moved up by one month the effective date of the two tax increases as part of an effort to cover a nearly $9 million current-year deficit in the Department of Human Resources' budget. Because of that deficit, Gov. William Donald Schaefer had threatened to slash welfare benefits and the state's foster care program.

Md. cigarette lawsuit reeks of hypocrisyI do not smoke and never did, except an occasional cigar when someone gave it to me for a celebration such as having a baby, etc.I think the cigarette companies are getting the shaft, however, when someone can get $250,000, as reported, for smoking and damaging their health. If they did not know cigarettes were harmful, they had their head in the sand for the last 20 years.I am also surprised that the state is suing on something that it licenses and taxes.