Friday, August 17, 2012
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Gwinnett Daily Post
ATLANTA (AP) -- A new study argues that the state of Georgia could cut smoking by 20 percent and yield almost $400 million in additional tax revenues with a $1 per pack increase in cigarette taxes.
University of Georgia professor James MacKillop directed the research. He is a psychologist who specializes in behavioral economics, the study of what makes individuals act in certain ways in the marketplace.
MacKillop based his results on assessments of 1,056 smokers in Georgia, Rhode Island and South Carolina. The study measured reactions to various prices, with the cost ranging from free to $20 per pack.
Georgia's current cigarette tax is 37 cents per pack. The average pack in Georgia costs $4.37. Both are among the lowest rates nationally.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded MacKillop's research.
More like this story
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- LETTERS: Extra $1 tax on tobacco will help close budget gap, save more lives ( March 22, 2011 )
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- Maybe I just need better calibration ( August 1, 2009 )
- Ga. students protest cuts ( March 15, 2010 )
Comments
kevin 10 months ago
Georgia has one of the lowest taxes in the country on tobacco. If our tax is only 37 cents, how come it costs $4.37 for one pack? Wow, what a profit. Raise it to $1.00 if our tax is so low now. It has been proven that tobacco kills. We can't make dope legal because it kills. Why do we allow tobacco to be legal? Our own FDA doesn't ban tobacco. What are we paying that agency to do, kill us all?
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