Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Letters: Cig tax can save schools and lives

More than 500,000 Philadelphians have been regular smokers at some point in their lives. Approximately half have quit smoking. The other half continue to smoke.

MORE THAN 500,000 Philadelphians have been regular smokers at some point in their lives. Approximately half have quit smoking. The other half continue to smoke.

"I started smoking when I was twelve," said Susan McTamney, a former City of Philadelphia employee. "I stole my first cigarette off my sister. I smoked for 36 years . . . 4 packs per day for the last 15 years of my smoking habit."

Yet most smokers don't want to be smokers. In fact, nine out of ten regret having ever started smoking, and the majority have tried to quit in the past year. But quitting is difficult. Smoking is an addiction. Moreover, cigarettes are readily available, heavily marketed, and, in Philadelphia, still relatively cheap. On average, a pack of cigarettes costs $5.70 in Philadelphia, $7.40 in New Jersey, $10 in Chicago, and $11 in New York City.

Increasing the price of cigarettes through taxes is arguably the most effective method for lowering smoking rates. Decades of research consistently demonstrate that a 10 percent increase in price leads to a 3 percent decline in adult smoking and even larger decreases among youth. For example, when New York City increased its local cigarette tax from 8 cents per pack to $1.50 per pack in 2002, smoking rates dropped by 11 percent.

The $2 per pack Philadelphia cigarette tax recently authorized by the Pennsylvania General Assembly (and passed unanimously by City Council in 2013) will lead people to quit, prevent many youth from starting in the first place, and save lives. We anticipate that smoking rates will decline by 10 percent among adults and 15-20 percent among youth. That means 30,000 fewer smokers in the city. That means fewer premature babies. That means less disability from stroke and less suffering from emphysema. That means fewer trips to the emergency room for asthma attacks. That means less death and more life for ex-smokers, their families, and their communities.

In addition to the gains in human life, the $2-per-pack tax will lead to annual savings of $15 million in health-care costs and $9 million in productivity gains over the next four years. Those dollars accrue to individuals, the public and employers. The tax will cap a series of successful tobacco-control efforts implemented by the Nutter administration, including smoke-free laws for indoor and outdoor spaces, media campaigns about the harms of smoking and expanded access to quit-aids. Smoking in Philadelphia has declined by 15 percent among adults in the past four years and by 30 percent among youth in the past six years.

In light of the tax, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and its partners will redouble their efforts to help smokers quit. We will promote use of the PA Free Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) through which Philadelphians can get free counseling over the phone and free nicotine patches by mail. We will ensure that physicians and nurses are equipped to provide evidence-based treatments to their patients. We will work with employers and insurers to guarantee that all FDA-approved smoking cessation medications are covered at no cost to beneficiaries, as required by the Affordable Care Act. We will maintain smoke-free workplaces, restaurants and parks, while expanding comprehensive smoke-free policies to more universities, hospitals, and employer campuses. We will highlight the stories of retailers that have voluntarily stopped selling tobacco products. And we will work with colleagues in government to assure that the new tax is appropriately applied and enforced.

Some have questioned whether a cigarette tax can lessen smoking and raise revenue simultaneously, particularly if some smokers avoid paying the tax by purchasing cigarettes in surrounding communities or buying from the black market. The short and resounding answer is yes. People will generally do one of three things in response to increased cigarette prices: 1) quit or cut down (about 15 percent in the case of this tax); 2) avoid paying the tax and continue smoking (up to 50 percent in this case); or 3) purchase cigarettes at the higher price and keep smoking (the remaining 35 percent.) The City took all these scenarios into account to generate its revenue estimates, resulting in approximately $80 million in the first full year of the tax. In sum, this tax is good for public schools because it raises desperately needed funds and good for public health because it will reduce smoking and save lives.

A few months after Susan McTamney shared her tale of triumph over smoking, her lung cancer recurred. She died on January 27, 2014. She was one of thousands of Philadelphians who succumbed to smoking-related illnesses in the past year. But Susan survived her initial illness and gained two additional, precious years of life with her friends and family. You can hear Susan's full story at www.smokefreephilly. org/exsmoker.

Let's hope for more ex-smokers (and never smokers) in the years to come.