Tax-Exempt Lobbyists for the Anti-Smoking Crusade

In early March, squads of anti-smoking activists conducted sting operations against convenience stores and gas stations nationwide. They handed out warnings to any clerk who failed to check the photo I.D.s of cigarette buyers who appeared to be younger than 27. Why? Because the Clinton Administration and the FDA think that's the best way to stop children from smoking.

The Nanny State regulators are forcing merchants to check the I.D.s of anyone without crow's feet. From now on, you baby-faced thirty-somethings are going to be flattered with I.D. requests over and over again, just to make sure no teenager tricks a clerk out of a pack of cigarettes. Stores violating the new law can expect a $250 fine.

In the months ahead, count on more, similarly ingenious efforts from the Clinton Administration. They plan to prohibit cigarette ads in magazines that may appeal to young people. They will ban giveaways of T-shirts, gym bags, and other products with snazzy logos. They will outlaw any billboard advertising that uses pictures and color to promote cigarettes. (The Constitution still protects words, so long as they are black on white.) And tobacco companies will be prohibited from displaying their brand names at sporting events like stock car races.

To keep in check the inevitable public outcry against all this heavy-handed intrusion, government officials are depending on the anti-smoking activists to scold anyone who resists. For now, the memory of America's sorry experience with Prohibition stands in the way of an immediate and total government ban on tobacco use. But regulators are looking to activists to bully store owners, demonize the tobacco industry, and force the public to agree that smoking is politically incorrect. And the most effective way to do this is to say you're doing it "for the children."

In Washington, a new group has been established to push this line: the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids. With over $30 million in its bank account ($20 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $10 million from the American Cancer Society, and smaller amounts from groups like the American Medical Association, American Heart Association, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation), the Center contends that tobacco use is a "pediatric disease." But its real aim is no different from that of all the other anti-smoking activists. It wants to use the power of the federal government to force on Americans a lifestyle change that should be promoted by education and persuasion.

The Center is another tax-exempt interest group in a city that's full of them. Using money from tax-exempt private foundations, the Center is abusing its charitable status by supporting the government's restrictions on the marketing and sale of a legal product produced by companies that pay taxes and create jobs.

The Center has also injected itself into election politics. In a series of ads during last year's campaign, the Center urged Americans to investigate their senators' positions on cigarette advertising. And it called on elected representatives to sign a pledge that they would not accept political contributions from tobacco companies. After the election, the Center applauded the victory of "pro-health" senators and President Clinton.

Now, when the IRS permits a charity to receive tax-deductible donations, the charity in turn promises to refrain from political campaign activity. Charities can lose their tax exemption if they fail to uphold this obligation.

Curiously, the IRS recently intensified its audits of tax-exempt conservative groups, like The Heritage Foundation, that engage in educational work on political issues. Asked to explain why, an IRS official said that such audits were generally triggered by media coverage and third-party communications. Consider this a communication! The IRS should take a look at the ads run last year by the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Whatever you think about smoking, isn't it about time to end the petty hassles of the anti-smoking puritans and their allies in government? Their efforts to use the power of the federal government to interfere with what some people consider one of life's simple pleasures should be met by a firm rejoinder: butt out.

Terrence Scanlon is president of the Capital Research Center.

For more information ...

Joe Camel Is Innocent. Just because Joe Camel is a cartoon doesn't mean R.J. Reynolds is targeting kids for its cigarettes. (The Heartland Institute, August 1996, 3 pp.)

Request PolicyBot document #2380112