Smoke tax has many in panic

By Jennifer Langston

Herald Writer

EVERETT —- A woman charged $800 worth of cigarettes at Larry Running’s tobacco shop this month.

She figured the credit card interest would be cheaper than paying an extra 60 cents a pack after Jan. 1, when Washington becomes the state with the highest cigarette taxes in the nation.

The looming tax hike has spawned both resolutions to quit and a rush to stock up on smokes before the first of the year.

"I applauded her for doing the math," said Running, who owns Big Smoke on North Broadway in Everett. "We should be having our own Boston Tea Party with everyone throwing cigarettes in the Sound."

Initiative 773, passed in November by 65 percent of Washington voters, takes effect next week. It dramatically raises state taxes on cigarettes, cigars and tobacco. For example, a pack of Marlboros could top $5 in some stores.

The initiative, which will cost a pack-a-day smoker about $200 more a year, should raise about $120 million annually, according to state estimates. It will be spent on improving health care for the poor and preventing kids from smoking.

J.J. Miller, a cashier at Smokin’ Sams on Rucker Avenue, said some customers are definitely buying more than usual. Others are switching to generic brands or starting to roll their own, she said.

"Everybody’s upset about it," Miller said. "But most people are just resigned to it."

While few smokers are happy about the hefty tax hike, some say they hope it will at least price kids out of the market. Most of them said they got hooked before they were smart enough to realize what a terrible idea it was.

Others feel like they’re being penalized for having an addiction they’d gladly kick if they could.

Dave Browning started sneaking smokes in the weeds near his grandma’s house when he was 11 years old. The 40-year-old Everett resident says he hasn’t gone without a cigarette for more than a couple of days in decades.

He’s got asthma and bronchial problems, plus a large family tree of cancers. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to stop smoking at the first of the year, but he’s heard about a new inhaler he might ask his doctor about.

Since he’s on disability, he can’t stock up on the loose tobacco that he uses to roll his own before prices go up.

Browning says he doesn’t think the tax hike will have much of an effect on people who already smoke, but he does hope it prevents others from starting.

"I’ll keep paying the prices as long as I’m addicted," he said. "I don’t have the willpower to quit."

Jennifer Thomas, 32, voted against the initiative. Now she’s prepared to quit at the first of the year, since she really won’t be able to afford to smoke anymore.

She started smoking when she was 13, when a pack of cigarettes cost less than a dollar. If there’s any silver lining in the tax hike, she hopes smoking will be so expensive kids won’t be able to afford to start.

"I don’t like it, but I guess I understand the reasons that it’s going up," she said. "If it’ll keep kids off it, I think that’ll be great."

Running said probably six out of 10 customers don’t even know prices are going up the first of the year. They’ve never even heard about the "stealth" initiative, which he thinks got comparatively little attention during the election season.

He put up signs about the initiative in his store, which sells everything from corncob pipes to $10 cigars, and even got the store designated as an official voter registration site. But only a handful of people signed up, he said.

Running said the increase, which will raise state taxes on a carton of cigarettes from $8.25 to $14.25, is incredibly regressive since it will disproportionately hit lower-middle class and less educated people.

And he suspects the tax will just fuel an illegal trade. "There are going to be kids 18 years old who will figure out it’s easy to go to Idaho and fill up their trunk with smokes," he said. "There’ll be a huge black market."

Matt Ruland, a Marlboro man who smokes about five packs a week, said he has already shopped around to find the cheapest place to buy cigarettes.

The 21-year-old is saving money to go to Shoreline community college to become a radio engineer. But he said he doesn’t know if a 60-cent increase will be enough to push him to quit.

"That’s a hard question to answer. People are hooked," he said. "It just doesn’t make sense to me to raise taxes on cigarettes. I’m all for health care, but I think that they should think of something else."

You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452

or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.

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