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STUDY: Low-Income Smokers In New York Spend A Quarter Of Their Income On Cigarettes By Tara Culp-Ressler on Sep 21, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Although cigarette taxes are a very effective way to encourage people to stop smoking — as well a potential source of important revenue for some cash-strapped states — a new study suggests that they also work to highlight income inequality among American smokers.
New York places a $4.35 tax on each pack of cigarettes, the highest rate in the country, and researchers used data from the state health department to calculate how much money its residents are spending on cigarettes each year. They found that that smokers in New York who earn less than $30,000 a year spent an average of 23.6 percent of their annual income on cigarettes, while the state’s wealthier smokers — defined as those earning over $60,000 a year — spent an average of just 2.2 percent of their earnings to support their smoking habit.
Because of this discrepancy, researchers pointed out that this tax may be disproportionately straining low-income New Yorkers:
“Although high cigarette taxes are an effective method for reducing cigarette smoking, they can impose a significant financial burden on low-income smokers,” Matthew Farrelly and his co-authors wrote in the conclusion of their paper, which was published this month in Plos One, an online, peer-reviewed journal. [...]
The low-income now spend twice as much of their earnings on cigarettes as they did in 2003, when the state imposed a tax of $1.50 [compared to the current $4.35 tax] on each pack.
The researchers concluded that to make the cigarette tax less regressive, the state should spend more of the resulting revenue on programs that help low-income smokers quit the habit, although both the researchers and the health department say this would be a challenge.
The study acknowledged that low-income populations tend to have higher percentages of smokers, highlighted by the fact that smoking rates among low-income New Yorkers did not decline at all between 2003 and 2010, even though smoking rates dropped by about 20 percent among all income groups during the same period. According to 2010 figures from the Centers for Disease Control, 28.9 percent of adults below the poverty level were smokers, a full 10 points higher than the rate for the adult population at or above the poverty level. Anti-smoking advocacy groups have also noted the correlation between smoking and income level, pointing out that encouraging lower-income Americans to quit smoking can help save states money on their Medicaid program expenditures, since approximately 10 to 20 percent of all Medicaid funds — totaling more than $30 billion each year — is spent on costs related to smoking-related illnesses.
But as the researchers noted, states could attempt to combat some of these issues by choosing to use the revenue generated by their cigarette taxes to invest in programs to help lower smoking rates among low-income populations. Turning a smoking habit into a bigger financial investment may deter some smokers, but cigarette taxes only represent one part of a broader public health strategy that should also include preventative education and support programs.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
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posted
they COULD subsidize the patch to make it less then a pack of smokes to use too... 14 for 60.00? that's ten packs of smokes for the avg smoker- 12 packs in Miss.
when i use patches they end up falling off me after about 6 hours... but the price they charge for a peice of plastic with nicotine polcrylex on it is ridiculous.. the packaging cost way more thant he product,
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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quote:Originally posted by CashCowMoo: Imagine that, taxes raised on the poor and packaged as something different. Are Republicans raising these taxes on tobacco?
Another factor they do not add in NY is ethnicity. There are a ton of arabs in NY and smoking is very widespread in that culture.
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-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: agreed pagan, it's the ramblings and ranting of an angry frustrated person... angry at things beyond his control no less... not good....
Yep...but this is the line that put it over the top. "Imagine that, taxes raised on the poor and packaged as something different." I guess middle class and rich people don't smoke anymore in NY according to Cowpie. Guess all them Arabs in NY are taking up the slack!
Some of his posts are serious face palmers!
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
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posted
as a smoker (Obama too) just like an alcoholic is always an alcoholic, i will alwyas be a smoker- i've quit so many times i lost count.
so, being honest with myself? i do not complain that taxes on smokes are too high..
i am angry that i was able to buy them easily when i was in Jr high, that should never be allowed.- that WAS criminal.
i think kids can find money to buy pot,- hell i know they do- they can also find money to buy smokes even at 20$ per pack.
i think the only sane approach to smoking is to provide alternatives to smoking, we have some that or OK, not great, but OK, and they cost too much money... the GOvt has taken my mony for decades when i buy smokes, they should use som eof the moeny to make alternatives to smoking cheap and easy...
if i put on a patch i can go most of the day until the darn thing falls off... they didn't used to fall off me when they were made of foil, but these stupid plastic ones (which is all i can get now) fall off after about 6-8 hours every time- depending on how much i sweat, and i sweat cuz i do physical labor every day of the week- i like it even when i am in pain - it helps minmize pain not viceversa (for me)..
i actually smoke more when i am not being physically active...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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