Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: Are Cheap Smokes Pro-life?

Are cheap smokes pro-life?

Since smoking kills 440,000 Americans a year, it can hardly be called pro-life.

Yet a good many lawmakers who describe themselves as strongly pro-life are also committed to keeping cigarettes cheap and, therefore, easily available to kids.

This curiosity of Kentucky politics came to mind while reading a recent post by political writer Pat Crowley of The Kentucky Enquirer: "Chamber clashing with lawmakers over taxes."

You might assume that the Chamber of Commerce, which looks out for business, would be against higher taxes while lawmakers, who are supposed to look out for everyone, would be trying to raise some money to patch the state's gaping budgetary wounds.

But you'd be wrong.

This is Kentucky, after all. Northern Kentucky to be precise, where Republicans control the legislative delegation.

Both the Northern Kentucky and statewide chambers of commerce are endorsing an increase in the state's paltry tax on cigarettes. But, Crowley reports, the reaction to that idea from the region's lawmakers ranged from chilly to flat out rejection.

So, here's the picture: The chamber, whose purpose is to improve the economic climate and look out for business interests, wants a cigarette tax increase. Not only would it salve (not solve) the budget crisis that's threatening education, transportation and other state services, it would also reduce the cost of doing business in Kentucky.

"Smoking costs Kentucky businesses money, explained Mike Ridenour, the state chamber's vice president of public affairs. "We don't see the (tax) increase as much as a way to raise revenue as a means of discouraging young people from starting to smoke and encouraging smokers to quit."

Research shows that cost increases are the single most effective way to discourage young people from smoking.

Legislators are supposed to look out for the public good, which includes promoting both economic and public health. But for some reason these lawmakers from Northern Kentucky, a hotbed of anti-abortion sentiment, place a higher value on cheap cigarettes than on economic and public health.

Hmmm. Could it be that, rather than thinking of the greater good, they're thinking of retailers who profit from pushing cheap cigarettes (and early death) to residents of Ohio and Indiana, just a quick drive across the Ohio River from Northern Kentucky?

Ohio levies a tax of $1.25 on a pack of cigarettes. Indiana raised its tax to 99 cents a pack last year and has seen a 20 percent reduction in smoking. The national average is $1.11 a pack, and in Kentucky, No. 1 in lung cancer, the tax is 30 cents a pack.

Kentucky's cheap cigarettes fuel an interstate black market.

And by keeping cigarettes so much cheaper than in surrounding states, Kentucky lawmakers are helping to addict and sicken not just the children of Kentucky but also those of Indiana, Ohio and beyond.

Is that pro-life?

Editor's comment: Good question.