Tobacco Documents Online

Smokers'Advo OCTOBER'1990", : ' A"SERVICE fJF PI-IILII''=M,ORRIS`U:S:A.r-°` More Taxes Mean Bigger Deficit According To National Study Raising taxes only leads to more govern- ment spending and actually increases the federal budget deficit, according to a study released byThe National Chamber Foundation, the research arm of the National Chamber of Commerce. The research indicates that for every dollar that taxes are increased, Congress will spend an additional one dollar and seventy-two cents. The report, which has been cited by many economists and President Bush, is commonly referred to as "the $1.72 study." The study was prepared by Professors Rich- ard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway of Ohio University's Department of Economics. They examined federal spending and taxing trends during the years 1940- 1988, making adjustments for unemployment, infla- tion and the impact of wars on the nation's economy. The study reinforces the findings of a similar study the two researchers released in 1987. The earlier research found that spending increased $1.52 for every dollar in increased taxes. Many Americans believe that raising taxes will reduce the deficit if expenditures remain un- HOTLINE Let us know what's happening in your area. Call the Hotline weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EDT. (212) 880-3680 changed. The authors of "the $1.72 study", how ever, argue that historically, raising taxes actually prompts legislators to increase spending. They point out that precisely because tax increases are unpopular, legislators often attempt to regain their popularity after a tax increase by increasing govern- ment spending on popular projects in their districts. The authors of "the $1.72 study" also found that increased taxes will cause interest rates to rise, which in turn will increase the cost of servicing the existing federal debt. "Already, every dollar in tax revenue collected west of the Mississippi is ear- marked for interest payments,on the national debt," the study notes. The study also found that Americans al- ready pay enough taxes to support the costs of gov- ernment. The problem is not with incoming reve- nues, the authors observed, but with how those revenues are allocated. "Based on these criteria," Vedder and Gall- away conclude, "we believe that the imposition of new excise taxes are unwarranted on almost every possible economic and policy basis." 0 SMOKERS PAY THEIR SHARE In 1951, state sales taxes on cigarettes yielded approximately $53 million in revenue. By 1988 state sales taxes on cigarettes provided $1.5 billion in revenue - an increase of 2743 percent, more than 27 times the 1951 amount. 120 Pmc AvENUE • NEw YoRK, NEw Yoxx 10017 205749591.9

NORTHEAST New Jersev. Tax revolt fallout. Sen. Louis Bassano introduces a measure to roll back cigarette excise taxes from $4 a carton to $1.90 and to reinstate a 90-cent per-carton wholesale surtax. Smokers would save $1.20 per carton. Sup,port this from California's Prop. 99 fell $78 million short of expectations in its first year. STATEWATCH FAR WEST measure. Your message: Smokers are willing to pay their fair share, but not an unfair share. MID-ATLANTIC Victorv in Virginia! The Dinwiddie County Board of Supervisors turned thumbs down on a smoking ban in government buildings. SOUTH Geor 'a. The Fulton County Health Department drafts a policy guideline on restaurant smokin~call- ing for 50 percent of seating to be non-smoking. So far, compliance would be voluntary. But beware. Antis will demand more stringent regulation. MIDWEST VictorY in Wisconsin! Sanity triumphs! Mayor Paul Soglin ofMadison vetoes a ban passed in August on smoking in shopping malls. The next move is a law to provide for designated smoking areas. Drop Mayor Soglin a line congratulating him on his good sense...In Fitchburg, Alderman Alan Colvin seeks smoking restrictions that exceed state guidelines. Law would ban smoking in public places and require the designation of smoking areas. WEST Montana. Get ready for a fight! Initiative 115, a clone of California's Proposition 99, will be on the November ballot. Initiative 115 would raise the ciaarette excise tax by 52.50 per carton, forcing smokers to carry the cost of anti-smoking indoctrina tion and community-based health care programs. Remind family, neighbors and friends that revenues California. About 500 Los Angeles res- taurateurs are mobilizing to fight a bill by Councilman Marvin Braude banning all restaurant smoking. This is a big effort that deserves citizen support. Write and call all citv council members, at (213) 485-3811, not justyour own.... The Sacramento City Council is considering an ordinance to ban smoking in workplaces, stores, taxis, banks and bus terminals ... Fights also shape up in smaller cities. Smokers in Lodi gather more than 3,000 petition signatures, forcing reconsideration of a smoking re- striction ordinance onto the November ballot. The city council had passed the ordinance restricting smoking in most public places in June by a 4-1 vote. Shows what arass-roots citizen action can do. PACIFIC NORTHWEST Victory in Alaska! A group of business owners and activists scored avictorv in Anchorage when a supe- rior court judge voided a local 10 percent tax passed by voters last year on tobacco products. The judge ruled that theAnchorageAssemblyunlawfully dele- gated its le-Qislative taxing authoritvtovoters...The Juneau Assembly defeated a 6 percent tobacco ex- cise tax 4-3 in August. But five votes were needed to win, so the tax goes on the ballot in November. Ore on. Can the ban! Ballot Measure 6 threatens to endanger product safety and disrupt Oregon's econ- omy by outlawing many types of current consumer goods packaging, including cigarette packs. Ballot Measure 6 would literally empty store shelves of consumer products with which you are familiar. And ultimately as a smoker, you would pay far more for cigarettes packaged specifically for Oregon. You'd also be supporting another bureaucracy. For more on how to stop this packaging ban initiative, contact the Oregon Committee for Recycling, 867 Liberty Street, NE, Salem, OR 97301. 2057495920 ,~

' e~a A {, diti~ x Congressman Seeks Compromise On Tobacco Ad Legislation Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) con- tinues to discuss his sweeping anti-tobacco pro- posal with key members of his House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Envi- ronment as well as with representatives of the tobacco industry. It is believed that Repre- sentative Waxman initiated these discus- sions to generate additional support for his anti-tobacco legislation among mem- bers of his subcommittee. As a result, several of the bill's harsh- est tobacco advertising restrictions have been dropped, according to Congressional sources quoted inAdvertising Age. Upon discovering he didn't have sufficient subcommittee support to pass the bill, Waxman agreed last July to negotiate with opponents of his strict anti-tobacco proposal. Sources close to the negotiations report that three major advertising provisions in the original bill are considered "off the table" in the ongoing ne- gotiations. These included a prohibition on the use of people, imagery and lifestyle depictions in ads; a re- peal of the federal pre-emption against states set ting their own tobacco ad standards; and new crite- Computer Game Company Attempts To Program Workers The Atari computer company located in Raunheim, West Germany has announced plans to give non-smoking employees an extra six days off each year. The rationale for this injustice, according to the company, is to make up for the cigarette breaks taken by workers who smoke. Atari estimates that smoking employees spend half a day every month away from their work stations on smoking breaks. This, the company says, is not fair to those employees who do not smoke. Did anyone consider that allowing employ- ees to smoke on the job might also solve the problem? O ria for the size, color and location of the health warn- ing on packages and ads. • Waxman is reportedly holding the line, how- ever, on his demand to ban all tobacco industry sponsorship of sports and cultural events. If Waxman is successful in passing such a ban, cultural and sporting events includ- ing Virginia Slims Tennis, Marlboro Cup Soccer and Benson and Hedges Blues concerts will become illegal. Waxman has twice re-scheduled a sub- committee vote on the measure, indicating that he is indeed having difficultly lining up support for the bill as originally written. "We have every reason to believe," said Hal Shoup, vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, "the onerous bill that was in- troduced will not be the same as the bill that's marked up by the subcommittee." Shoup also said that he would be very sur- prised if Waxman's bill was not amended to satisfy concerns expressed by groups including the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom to Adver- tise Coalition. As Congress approaches its adjournment target, smokers need to remind legislators that there are much more important issues to be addresed, and that Representative Waxman's personal crusade against smoking should not be allowed to detract from those issues. 0 2057495921

Wisconsin Town Takes 'Pride In Tobacco' Edgerton, Wisconsin is one American town where the anti-smoking movement gets a chilly reception. Edgerton, a town of 4,360 indi- viduals, is home to the annual "Tobacco SMOKESK'sWAYS Heritage Days" festival. For three days every summer Edgerton residents get together to cele- brate the fact that their town is the center of a major tobacco-growing region. According to The Chicago Tribune, local businesswoman Judy Nelson first proposed the event 18 years ago and has been a major figure in festival planning ever since. The three-day festival includes tours of a tobacco warehouse, a tobacco museum, an axe- throwing contest, a horse-show pitching tourna- ment, live music and other events. Banners salut- ing tobacco and proclaiming "Pride in Tobacco" are displayed prominently throughout the town. There are approximately 1,400 farms that grow tobacco in the Edgerton area. The esti- mated 11 million pounds of tobacco Edgerton's farms produce this year will be used mostly in the manufacture of chewing tobacco. 0 National Edition Smokers'A&orate 120 PAxx AVENUE • NEw Yoxx, NEwYoluc 10017 Restaurateur Caters To Smokers' Preferences Restaurateurs throughout the nation could learn an object lesson in hospital- ity ity from Jack Baker, owner of Freeman's Cafe in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Baker, who purchased the local eatery earlier this year, made one of his first orders of business the repeal of the restaurant's no-smoking policy. According to The Waterloo Courier, the cafe's previous owners banned smoking from the entire restaurant last fall. Baker, a non-smoker reversed that policy, saying that "it's just some- thing you have to do.... "I've never seen someone not go into a res- taurant because they have a smoking section." Baker plans to offer a special section for diners who choose to smoke, and will also provide a separate seating area for non-smokers. He will also place air purifiers throughout the entire res- taurant. This way, he says, the needs of all of his customers will be met. Baker, who has more than 20 years of restaurant experience, says his decision to ac- commodate smokers is good business. 0 ********** CAR-RT S4RT ** RR07 BAG C10338 BN 17 tE000007249-6) 95pQDBROADU~EADOWS ROAD GLEN ALLEN, VA 23060 BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID Schenectady, NY Permit No. 255 A SERVICE OF PHILIP MORRIS U.S.A. A DIVISION OF PHILIP MORRIS INCORPORATED © 1990 PHIUP Moxxls U.S.A.