Tobacco tax questions…

Some thoughts today as I sit up here in the gallery of the Arkansas State Capital House Chamber awaiting Governor Beebe's State of the State address. First, I understand the need in Arkansas for a statewide trauma system, and I know that UAMS is an excellent hospital for coordinating this trauma center. However, I do not understand the need for a second campus as the current campus has many areas that could be transformed to create the main trauma center and they can work with current hospitals to create regional centers in each corner of the state. In addition, you propose funding the trauma center with a 56 cent a pack increase on cigarettes, while at the same time wanting to decrease the grocery tax by an additional penny. I might be mistaken, but have you not stood on the grounds of eliminating the grocery tax because it harms the working poor? I know that people who use tobacco products might be the easiest to tax for this trauma center, but it may not be the best group. I suggest this because as I see it as taxes and programs on smoking cessation increase, the amount of potential revenue from this tax will decrease. Governor Beebe also gave the figure of $620 million a year to take care of people who do use tobacco products; however, he did not mention projected revenue figures on from the proposed tax increase. Therefore, I want to use this blog to ask Governor Beebe to elaborate on projected revenue figures for your proposal. And if the number of tobacco users decline due to the tax increase below projected figures, how would you make up the difference in budgeted amounts? Thank you!