Moral Obligation to Smoke and Drink

There was a very long hearing in Assembly Taxation this afternoon, and there were only two bills on the agenda!

I signed in opposing both, but only went to the table on one of them.

First up was AB 277, proposed by Assemblyman Bernie Anderson. This bill would raise the excise taxes considerably on liquor, including beer and wine. The money raised by this bill would go toward DNA testing and various alcohol and drug treatment programs.

The DNA issue arises from the tragic Brianna Denison case last year. It was during the course of that investigation that we all learned that the Washoe County crime lab had a large backlog of DNA samples and evidence that they had collected, but did not have the funding to expedite the process of analyzing all of the samples. AB 277 would provide money for that purpose.

AB 255, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, would raise the excise tax on cigarettes by about $1 per pack to fund medical services to pregnant women. I went to the table in opposition to this bill.

In fact, in Assemblywoman Leslie’s opening remarks, she quickly listed all of the reasons that some would use to oppose the bill, and she was dead on! She even stated that this method was horrible tax policy, but that she was tired of seeing these necessary services go unfunded year after year.

The Chamber opposes both of these bills because we believe that there should be a nexus between any tax and the purpose for that tax. We also believe that one specific industry should not shoulder the entire burden of a tax that benefits the entire population. You can find our positions on taxation on page 2 of our Agenda for Economic Vitality in Nevada.

In other words, if DNA testing and health care for pregnant women are determined to be important government services that the state needs to provide, then we should all pay for it, not just drinkers and smokers (and the stores that sell to them).

I also voice our concern that AB 255 would make cigarettes in Nevada more expensive than in many of our surrounding states, including California. We don’t even want to mention internet sales. By driving sales over the border or to the internet, we could actually hurt our local retailers and maybe even bring in less tax revenue on these products than we do currently.

Finally, these bills would seem to provide a perverse incentive for all of us to smoke and drink as much as we can in order to fund these important programs! You have a moral obligation!