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March 07, 2007

Tobacco Tax Should Only Go to Healthy Kids

I'm more than a little annoyed this morning at reports that less than half of the hefty increase in the tobacco tax will be going exclusively to fund "Healthy Kids" for the first two years. The rest will go to the Oregon Health Plan for low-income adults and the general fund. If the tax increase is being "sold" to us as a funding mechanism for the Healthy Kids program, then that's what it should be used for – and nothing else. I support the cigarette tax increase to provide health insurance for children. I do not support a cigarette tax increase to temporarily flesh out the general fund or other programs that will need replacement revenue sources in two years. I'm very upset that the Governor would jeopardize the plan's support by tacking on other spending to ride in on the coattails of the Healthy Kids plan.

If, as supporters say, the money will only be used this way for the first two years while the program is being set up, then they either ought to graduate the increase so it only produces the revenues needed for the program, or set the extra revenues aside so they can be used to backfill for unexpected costs later – creating a sort of "rainy day fund" for the Healthy Kids program.

Posted by Becky at March 7, 2007 09:47 AM