Sin taxes may rise
Angela Cooper-McCorkle
Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: News
At A-1 Smoke and Grocery, the doorbell rings regularly as customers come in for cigarettes, sodas and snacks, all items targeted for hefty tax hikes in Governor Gregoire's latest revenue plan. A-1 employee Ayaz Ahamad expects the bell will continue to ring, but that customers will be leaving with less if the spate of new sales taxes is implemented.
$605 million is the amount Gregoire hopes to raise with her new revenue proposal, a plan that will disproportionately help and hurt EvCC students. The tax hikes have been The state is projected to fall $2.8 billion short of its needs for 2010 and 2011, but Gregoire expects to be able to fund essentials such as health care, education and human services programs through taxes on luxuries many college students take for granted.
Candy, cigarettes, gum and bottled water are all on the tax-hike list. Bottled water would cost an extra penny per ounce, sodas would be another nickel per 12 oz. can, and candy and gum, now tax exempt, would be subject to the existing sales tax. Cigarettes would cost $1 more per pack beginning July 1, if the plan is approved, in addition to the current tax of $2.025 per pack.
Students would see a direct benefit from the revenue, specifically in the form of $146 million in funding to restore the State Need Grant program. However, students spend heavily in the targeted categories: over 23 percent of young adults smoke according to the CDC, making them the most lucrative revenue source for tobacco companies.
"Customers mostly have no jobs, no money now," says Ahamad, raising questions about whether citizens will continue spending on luxury items or cut consumption instead.
"Before [the last tax increase] customers would buy one pack, now they buy single cigarettes, and they wanna quit" if prices go up again, Ahamad says.
While a pack of name brand cigarettes costs approximately $5.00 to $6.50, single cigarettes, though far more expensive per unit, at $0.79 each, are becoming increasingly popular according to Ahamad.
"I'm getting ready to shuck the whole habit," says regular A-1 customer Curtiss Lester. Lester has already switched from cigarettes to smaller packages of cigarillos, and says the proposed increase is not surprising considering "tobacco is the number one profit [source] and number one killer."
Students will need to stay tuned: the legislative session was scheduled to end yesterday but an extension seemed likely.
$605 million is the amount Gregoire hopes to raise with her new revenue proposal, a plan that will disproportionately help and hurt EvCC students. The tax hikes have been The state is projected to fall $2.8 billion short of its needs for 2010 and 2011, but Gregoire expects to be able to fund essentials such as health care, education and human services programs through taxes on luxuries many college students take for granted.
Candy, cigarettes, gum and bottled water are all on the tax-hike list. Bottled water would cost an extra penny per ounce, sodas would be another nickel per 12 oz. can, and candy and gum, now tax exempt, would be subject to the existing sales tax. Cigarettes would cost $1 more per pack beginning July 1, if the plan is approved, in addition to the current tax of $2.025 per pack.
Students would see a direct benefit from the revenue, specifically in the form of $146 million in funding to restore the State Need Grant program. However, students spend heavily in the targeted categories: over 23 percent of young adults smoke according to the CDC, making them the most lucrative revenue source for tobacco companies.
"Customers mostly have no jobs, no money now," says Ahamad, raising questions about whether citizens will continue spending on luxury items or cut consumption instead.
"Before [the last tax increase] customers would buy one pack, now they buy single cigarettes, and they wanna quit" if prices go up again, Ahamad says.
While a pack of name brand cigarettes costs approximately $5.00 to $6.50, single cigarettes, though far more expensive per unit, at $0.79 each, are becoming increasingly popular according to Ahamad.
"I'm getting ready to shuck the whole habit," says regular A-1 customer Curtiss Lester. Lester has already switched from cigarettes to smaller packages of cigarillos, and says the proposed increase is not surprising considering "tobacco is the number one profit [source] and number one killer."
Students will need to stay tuned: the legislative session was scheduled to end yesterday but an extension seemed likely.
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