ATLANTA – Today Representative Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) announced that he pre-filed House Bill 39. This legislation will raise the state tobacco tax in order to curb the deadly use of tobacco and it will raise much needed revenue for the state.
Representative Stephens said, “Every year, tobacco takes the life of 10,300 of your fellow Georgians – your mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, and other loved ones. In addition to its toll on lives, tobacco-related disease costs Georgia $2.25 billion in direct health care costs each year. Too much of that burden is on the backs of taxpayers.”
The premise of this legislation is supported by over 100 studies. Virtually every expert in this country and elsewhere has concluded that raising tobacco taxes is one of the most effective measures that can be taken to reduce smoking. The studies prove that when tobacco prices go up, tobacco use goes down, especially among young people. Creditable organization such as the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the World Bank, Wall Street Tobacco Analysts, President’s Cancer Panel, and even the tobacco companies agree – raising tobacco prices reduces tobacco use.
“We often have to make difficult decisions without clear evidence of what the results will be. The decision to raise the tobacco tax is NOT one of these. It will reduce smoking; it will reduce smoking-caused disease and death. It will increase state revenues and decrease state health care expenditures,” said Representative Stephens.
###