Cancer society volunteers urge $1 rise in cigarette tax

INDIANAPOLIS -- Nearly 300 volunteers for the American Cancer Society lobbied lawmakers Tuesday, urging them to pass a $1 increase in the state cigarette tax.\n"With 300 of us in the snow, the bad weather and the cold, it shows our dedication and our strength," said Brenda Davis, who came to Indianapolis from Mitchell. "We mean business."\nVolunteers, many of whom wore red shirts, met with some lawmakers over lunch at a downtown hotel to discuss the tobacco tax. Other volunteers crowded Statehouse hallways to speak with their senators and representatives.\nGeorge Flowers, of Evansville, hoped to tell lawmakers that adding a $1 per pack tax to the current 55 cents per pack would help some people quit smoking. He said his younger sister recently died at age 60 of lung cancer.\n"The addiction -- it's scary," Flowers said. "She's dying, she's on her last note, and we're getting ready to put her in hospice. The ambulance had to wait because she wanted to smoke one last cigarette. She passed away three days later."\nThe American Cancer Society says raising the cigarette tax by $1 per pack could prevent 89,800 children from becoming smokers and could spur 52,900 people in Indiana to quit.\nGov. Mitch Daniels has asked the General Assembly to raise the cigarette tax by at least 25 cents per pack. Daniels has proposed using the new revenue to provide health insurance to low-income adults and immunizations for children.\nThe chair of the House Health Committee, Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, has said he hopes to introduce legislation to raise the state's cigarette tax by at least $1 per pack.\nAlthough there is bipartisan backing in the General Assembly for expanding health care coverage, there has been no groundswell of support so far for increasing the cigarette tax.\nMany Republicans have signed pledges against any tax increases. Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer has said that although the House will hold a hearing on a cigarette tax increase, its passage is uncertain.