Effect of Cigarette Taxes

Cigarette Taxes
There are around 50 million smokers in the United States today, and the taxes collected from the cigarettes purchased by this large group of people greatly contribute to the social programs the government provides. One of the biggest services the taxes go into is healthcare. The revenue obtained also goes to balance each state’s personal budgets. Without the taxation of cigarettes, the United States would lose more than $7 billion that go towards beneficial programs and causes. The government collects more money from the sale of cigarettes than retailers, farmers, and manufacturers combined (NoCigTax). Each level of government- federal, state, and local- use their tax revenues from cigarette sales on different things to improve the economy. Not only is it a good idea to tax cigarettes so that the United States can use that tax money elsewhere, but taxing a good that isn’t absolutely needed cuts down on the sales of tobacco products as well. There are some that think the taxation of cigarettes shouldn’t be allowed, but when viewed as a whole, it’s quite obvious that the positive effects of the taxation of tobacco outweigh the negative.
The taxes the federal government collect helps pay for many social programs, such as healthcare. This is a little ironic seeing as how cigarettes are proven to cause many health problems. A big chunk of the revenue of cigarette taxes go directly to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which helps uninsured low-income families provide healthcare services for their children (eHow). This is one of the positive effects of taxing these products. There are
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many more positive effects as well. For example, at the state level, the taxes collected go towards balancing each state’s budget and fund the state healthcare services. Balancing the budget creates a stronger and more stable economy within each state. Some states, including California, haven’t raised their personal state taxes since before 1999. All...