* Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed a 32 cents per pack increase on cigarettes and a 36 percent tax on the wholesale price of e-cigarettes, so once again Senate President John Cullerton is going his own way on taxation…
Today, Senate President John Cullerton joined health advocates from organizations across the state to announce new legislation that would increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The bill includes a $1-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes sold in Illinois, which would bring the statewide tax up to $2.98 per pack. To parallel that new amount, the legislation also increases taxes on other tobacco products, like cigars and smokeless tobacco, to 64% of the wholesale price.
“It’s rare that you can sponsor legislation and know that it will save lives. That’s exactly what this will do,” Cullerton said. “It will stop children from starting to smoke and cause many adult smokers to quit, sparing them from a lifetime of addiction and associated health problems. That’s why the public supports it.”
In addition to the legislation, advocates released poll results that indicated broad support for an increase in tobacco taxes. Approximately 66% of respondents were in favor of the $1-per-pack increase on cigarettes, and 75% were in favor of taxing other tobacco products, like cigars and smokeless tobacco, at the same rate as cigarettes. The poll was conducted by Fako Research and Strategies between April 27 and May 2, 2019.
Attending advocates expressed gratitude and enthusiasm for the new legislation. They included Dr. Douglas Carlson of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Shana Crews, Illinois government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network; Kathy Drea, vice president of advocacy for the American Lung Association; Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health; Tom Hughes, executive director for the Illinois Public Health Association; Matt Maloney, director of health policy for Respiratory Health Association; Julie Mirostaw, government relations director for the American Heart Association; and A.J. Wilhelmi, president and CEO of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association.
“Regular and significant tobacco tax increases are part of an effective, comprehensive tobacco control plan,” the group said in a statement. “Investing this tax revenue into the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation programs is crucial to preventing kids from starting to use tobacco and helping people already addicted to quit. We’re thankful for President Cullerton’s leadership on this issue and look forward to helping it become law.”
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in Illinois. Increasing the tax on cigarettes by $1 per pack is expected to prevent 28,700 Illinois kids under 18 from becoming adults who smoke and help 48,700 Illinois adults who currently smoke quit. It’s also anticipated to reduce the state’s long-term health care costs by $1.56 billion.
- ??? - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 12:58 pm:
One you factor in local taxes, the tax on a pack of cigarettes in Chicago is over $7.00.
- Dotnonymous - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:14 pm:
Tobacco is deadly and addictive… in all forms.
A mountain of corpses proves so… every single year.
- Al - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:15 pm:
What the Senate President said about tobacco could also be said of Liquor.
- Mongo - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:20 pm:
It is a good idea. Kudos to the President.
- City Zen - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:24 pm:
Why stop at $1?
- Captain Obvious - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:28 pm:
So we want to discourage smoking. Then why are we legalizing the smoking of weed, the smoke from which is just as harmful as tobacco smoke? Will weed be taxed as heavily as tobacco? Are we really concerned with public health, or is revenue generation superseding health concerns?
- Wow - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:28 pm:
Have the guts to make it illegal.. stop taxing and using those taxes to fund your pet programs. If you hate tobacco, have the guts to put in a bill to ban it..
- Anon - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 1:30 pm:
“It’s rare that you can sponsor legislation and know that it will save lives. That’s exactly what this will do”
Then just ban them and save all the lives… Right?
There’s got to be a diminished return here…
I’m a smoker. I hate it, need to quit, whatever. I simply bought a $60 machine, $4 cartons of tubes and $20 pound bags of tobacco. $1 packs instead of $12+.
Tax that and I’d just buy them across the border.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 2:32 pm:
==Tax that and I’d just buy them across the border.==
That’s an interesting way to quit. How is it going to help you quit when there is a way to make a cigarette whenever you want one? I was able to quit by not having cigarettes around. I would buy a pack when I really had a craving then run water on the rest. Expensive, sure, but it worked.
- Tequila Mockingbird - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 2:35 pm:
Raising tax revenue or controlling use? Be honest with us.
If you want to limit or eliminate tobacco use, make it illegal everywhere in the state.
If you want the tax dollars, say so and stop saying its for the good of the tobacco using citizens.
I agree it’s kinda hard to make it fit with the legal weed position.
- downstateR - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 2:40 pm:
I agree with Wow and TM: stop grandstanding, make it illegal and accept the consequences.
- Downstate - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 2:48 pm:
A friend quit cold turkey by going through hypnosis. He came home to his wife. Every time she said the word “cigarette” or “smoking” he started barking like a dog.
He let her in on the joke only after about 5 minutes and her increasingly worried demeanor. Thirty years later, he has yet to smoke a cigarette, and his marriage is still intact.
- Pundent - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 2:58 pm:
=Raising tax revenue or controlling use? Be honest with us.=
Maybe it’s both. Either way the use of tobacco is a societal drain on the health care system. We all pay more to treat those that continue to smoke. If they’re going to do so in spite of all the health data that says they shouldn’t then I have no problem in increasing the tax and having them shoulder a greater financial burden. And if that tax is what it takes to finally get them to quit that’s not a bad thing either.
- Nonbeleiver - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:02 pm:
“make it illegal and accept the consequences.’
Do you support legalization of cannabis?
- downstateR - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:05 pm:
Nonbeliever,
I was being sarcastic. I do support the legalization of cannabis.
- Steve - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:15 pm:
Good luck collecting more revenue. Chicago is bringing in less cigarette tax revenue than in 2005.
- Facts matter - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:16 pm:
The Governor’s director of the Department of Public Health was present at the press conference and spoke in favor of the proposal. I’ve never known agency directors to appear at press conferences and speak in favor of initiatives opposed by their Governors.
- Al - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:19 pm:
I feel sorry for the nicotine addicted. Glad Illinois is early on the Tobacco 21 band wagon and is among the higher states regarding tobacco taxes. But they already high. Why not raise $80 million by matching Iowa’s liquor gallonage excise tax instead?
- downstateR - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:29 pm:
To clarify: it takes no “leadership” to impose punitive taxes on a minority (however defined). I don’t use tobacco in any form and I’m certainly not in the 1%. But, then I probably don’t know my own interest. Or something like that.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 3:39 pm:
==Every time she said the word “cigarette” or “smoking” he started barking like a dog.==
The money they saved on cigarettes was offset by the money they spent on flea collars./s
- A guy - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 4:01 pm:
==The poll was conducted by Fako Research==
These company may have missed a branding seminar somewhere along the way.
- btowntruthfromforgottonia - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 6:15 pm:
I think it is a great idea.
Family member has COPD and emphysema from 50 years of smoking.
Caught her lying to me borrowing money and driving right to the tobacco shop after claiming she needed it for “feminine supplies”.
So I have no sympathy for smokers complaining about any proposed tax increases.
- Cigar store owner - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 6:51 pm:
The health risks of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco is well documented and well known and I don’t object to raising taxes on those, and on vape and pot and anything else inhaled in the lungs. However, the health risks of average use of cigars and pipes are the same as non-smokers, according to new studies by the FDA (which now controls national regulation of all tobacco products) and the CDC. As further testament to this, I got life insurance last year and qualified in the “above average non-smoker” tier (much to the surprise of the insurance adjuster) even though I own a premium cigar store and work it every day, and was fully honest about my cigar use. I chose years ago to stop selling cigarettes and have no interest in them. But raising the tax on Other Tobacco Products to 64% will simply drive sales out of Illinois and close businesses like mine.
The FDA also concluded that the average age a person tries their first cigar is 27 and the average cigar smoker consumes less than 2 per month. Cigars aren’t a youth access problem and they aren’t an addiction problem. Attack/tax Big Tobacco all you want but recognize the significant difference between cigarettes and premium cigars.
- tomhail - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 6:54 pm:
This former smoker thinks this is a great idea. Why? I learned.
- anon2 - Tuesday, May 7, 19 @ 8:31 pm:
While adding another buck to the tax will reduce smoking, it will also increase bootlegging. It also increases one of the most regressive taxes in a state that already has one of the most regressive state and local tax systems in the nation.