Proposition 303 would double Arizona's tobacco tax; those taxes would then be used to further fund state health care. How should Arizonans vote on this initiative?

Kendrick Wilson Columnist

Time for smokers to pay for Arizona's healthcare

Tobacco taxes are not only a great way to deter people from smoking, but they are one of the easiest, fairest ways to pay for health services in our state. Prop. 303 would double tobacco taxes in Arizona in order to pay for a variety of health care services, including keeping trauma centers open at hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix.

When the current tobacco taxes were put before voters in 1994, the tobacco lobby spent nearly $4 million in an attempt to defeat the measure. They called themselves the "No More Taxes Committee" to prevent the negative response that might happen if voters were to see Phillip Morris or R.J. Reynolds paying for TV ads.

The most amazing part of the 1994 measure is that the voters approved it in spite of the tobacco lobby's big money. This year, the tobacco lobby hasn't even tried to fight Prop. 303.

They must have seen that the tobacco taxes passed in 1994 really didn't hurt their revenues as significantly as they had predicted, and that Arizona isn't a big enough market to merit spending millions of dollars campaigning against tobacco taxes.

Prop. 303 doesn't tell people they can't smoke, only that they must help pay for healthcare if they choose to smoke.

Since smokers statistically need more state subsidized health care than non-smokers, it's only fair that they should pay part of it.

Most importantly, no one is forcing people to smoke.

If they can't afford the higher tobacco taxes, they can avoid paying them by quitting smoking or smoking less.

In a time when people are railing against the possibility of across the board tax raises, trauma centers in hospitals are closing, and smoking is no longer on the decline. Only raising tobacco taxes can set us back in the right direction.

Keeping tobacco taxes low only subsidizes smoking and encourages more and more people to need healthcare that the state is ill prepared to provide.

Save trauma centers and make smokers pay for the healthcare they will soon need. Vote YES on Prop. 303!

Kendrick Wilson is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.

Tylor Brand Columnist

Just say no to Prop. 303's hyprocritical paternalism

Let's be clear on one thing: Smoking is truly gross. It makes your hair, clothes, pets, children, etc. reek of Denny's, and dating a smoker is like trying to get intimate with a hibachi.

Still, we have our favorite congressional hypocrites thinking either: 1) "These people would sell various spare organs and children to fund their addiction; let's exploit them!" or 2) "By making cigarettes more expensive, fewer people will smoke!" Prop. 303 represents both of these, justifying it by healthcare funding.

Of the two choices, I personally consider number one the more likely answer, although I know the real world is alien territory to many of our leaders. But let's throw out number two altogether.

I once saw a woman spend the last $5 she had to get two packs of cigarettes (she actually had to re-shelve real food), so it's apparent that the addiction's pretty damn stiff.

They're going to buy their way to cancer whether they pay 60 cents a pack or $1.13 in taxes ÷ it's just whether they'll be able to foot their food bill, too.

Number two: The subsidy fairy grants hundreds of millions of dollars in wishes to the tobacco industry each year, then sues them to pay for education and health care, and then taxes them like Swedes. The government then makes scads of money from taxes, campaign donations (Philip Morris is one of the top three contributing to Republicans), and lawsuits, so why wouldn't they want to prop up big tobacco?

And they do. Being benevolent meddlers, our Congress even gave $328 million to tobacco companies because people aren't smoking as much! So you could say we're a huge part of the problem, but we won't question this when looking for a solution! How about we stop corporate welfare and use that money to fund emergency care? It'd probably actually save money.

So screw the tobacco companies, but don't screw poor smokers. Prop. 303 is just another win for the elites.

End point: Excise taxes were passed in Japan. What happened? Everyone between the ages of 8 months and death still smokes like a fiend ÷ they just pay more to do so.

Tylor Brand is a philosophy sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.