CWNews
Taxation Leads to State Health Dept Usage
Calls more than double to stop smoking line
BYLINE: By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press Writer
SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK Ark.
State health officials say call volume has increased dramatically to the Health Department's smoking cessation helpline since an $86 million increase in the Arkansas tobacco tax went into effect.
Health Department Deputy Director Mary Leath told a legislative panel Wednesday that the agency needs another $1 million to pay for a contract to a company that operates the helpline. The hike in the tobacco tax went into effect on March 1.
Leath says the helpline had been getting about 1,000 calls per month. Last week alone, more than 2,600 people called for help to beat a tobacco addiction.
Arkansas taxes rose by 56 cents per pack, in addition to a 62-cent-a-pack federal excise tax that became law in February. The tax on other tobacco, such as cigars and pipe and chewing tobacco, rose from 32 percent of the wholesale price to 68 percent.
