RE: “Tax on tobacco can save lives,” Editorial, Sept. 9, 2009
Florida taxpayers should be forewarned that the huge drop in cigarette sales due to the state’s cigarette tax hike will come back to bite them.
These taxes are borne by a small base that gets smaller as the tax goes up, because people quit or, more likely, find ways to circumvent the tax. That is already happening in Florida.
This tax hike will burden Florida businesses and taxpayers, especially in the northern half of the state. Not to mention that such taxes fall predominantly on low-income earners.
Nonsmokers also need to be worried about this tax hike, because the more money seized from Florida taxpayers, the more expensive their government will inevitably become.
When this unsustainable cigarette tax revenue dries up, Florida legislators will merely move on to another group of taxpayers to pick up the hefty government tab. Exercising fiscal restraint and setting good spending priorities are much more fiscally sound ways to address the state’s long-term budget issues than targeted tax increases like tobacco taxes.
JOHN NOTHDURFT
Budget and tax legislative specialist
The Heartland Institute
This letter to the editor was originally published in the News-Press out of Ft. Myers, Florida.
John Nothdurft joined the staff of The Heartland Institute in May 2008 and left in January of 2019.
