MINNEAPOLIS, MN - A sharp decrease in cigarette tax revenue is to blame for this year's budget shortfall, according to city officials. The tax, originally imposed to fund the Theodore Gauss Emphysema Research Center at the University of Minnesota,
was doubled last year to supplement the general fund, but has generated less than half of the projected revenue. Officials say their projections did not consider the current drop in cigarette sales.
"Usually a cigarette tax has no effect on cigarette sales." said councilperson Theodore Gauss. "Smokers would simply pay whatever it cost. While well intended, the notion that we could tax smokers into quitting was increasingly considered to be a pipe dream."
The Council plans to debate several measures aimed at rectifying the shortfall. While promising stiff opposition, even the most ardent anti-smoking councilpersons admit that some existing regulations may have to be reversed. "If we have to compromise, we will." said
councilperson Linda Susserman, who once sponsored a bill to eliminate smoking in private homes. "We'll do whatever's necessary to avoid making any spending cuts."
Some of the actions under consideration are lifting the ban on smoking in public buildings, allowing vendors to place cigarette machines on street corners, and lowering the legal buying age to 13.
Other possible actions are more direct. "We may distribute cigarettes along with condoms at the middle schools." said Gauss. "As a government entity we're exempt from the tax, and can get them unbelievably cheap. That
could be the fastest way to increase the number of smokers and restore the revenue stream."
|
