7/24/2013

LEGISLATURE’S VOTE INCREASES TOBACCO TAXES – WILL HELP PREVENT ANOTHER TOBACCO ADDICTED GENERATION (7-24-13)

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

CONTACT: Marc Hymovitz, Phone: 617.823.7746, Email: marc.hymovitz@cancer.org

July 24, 2013

LEGISLATURE’S VOTE INCREASES TOBACCO TAXES – WILL HELP PREVENT ANOTHER TOBACCO ADDICTED GENERATION

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Celebrates $1 Cigarette Tax Increase and Increases in Tax on Other Tobacco Products

(Boston, MA) – July 24, 2013 – The Massachusetts House and Senate voted today to override Governor Deval Patrick’s veto of the $500 million transportation finance bill which includes an increase in the state’s tobacco taxes. The bill will raise the cigarette tax by $1 to $3.51, raise the tax on cigars from 30 percent of wholesale to 40 percent of wholesale, and raises the tax on other tobacco products (OTP) from 90 percent of wholesale to 210 percent of wholesale. At $3.51 per pack, Massachusetts will have the second highest tax in the nation following New York. The tobacco tax increases will take effect in seven days.

“Increasing tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to get users to quit and prevent kids from ever starting” said Marc Hymovitz, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) State Government Relations & Advocacy Director for Massachusetts. “The tobacco tax increases included in the transportation finance bill will save lives and reduce long-term health care costs for the Commonwealth.”

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Massachusetts, killing more than 9,000 residents each year while hundreds of thousands more suffer from its health consequences. Tobacco-related health care expenses annually costs Massachusetts $4.3 billion – 10 percent of all our health care costs.

The $1 cigarette tax increase is expected to save the state nearly a $1 billion in long-term health care costs, prevent 27,000 youth from starting to smoke, and convince 25,000 adults to quit smoking. With the new tobacco taxes passed today, Massachusetts tobacco excise taxes, together with the money the Commonwealth receives from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies, will total $1 billion this year.

“The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network would like to thank the Legislature for their support and continued leadership throughout this campaign,” said Hymovitz. “We would also like to thank Governor Patrick, who has consistently backed increases in tobacco excise taxes as an evidence-based public health initiative.”

The campaign to raise tobacco taxes in Massachusetts involved a partnership of ACS CAN, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Lung Association, and the nearly 50 organizations that make up the Tobacco Free Mass coalition. ACS CAN mobilized volunteers from across the state to contact their legislators to let them know how critical raising tobacco taxes are to improving public health. Following the filing of the transportation bill in April, legislators received hundreds of emails, phone messages, and materials to support the need for the tax increase.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.

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