The Traveler

Arkansas residents will be paying an extra 56 cents a pack for cigarettes beginning next month.

Gov. Mike Beebe signed a bill Tuesday, which is expected to raise $87.8 million in the next fiscal year, and more than $85 million the year after. The law takes effect March 1, and the revenue earned will go to fund a statewide trauma care system, as well as expand the ARKids first health insurance program for low-income children, according to the Associated Press.

The tax hike is in addition to a 62 cents per pack increase signed into law by President Obama earlier this month. The increase brings the total tax on cigarettes in Arkansas to $1.15 per pack. Anti-tobacco lobbyists are calling the passage a "Win-win-win for the state of Arkansas."

"[The increase] is a health win that will reduce tobacco use and save lives, a financial win that will raise critical new revenue for health improvements, and a political win that polls show is popular with the voters," according to a statement by Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The additional money to the ARKids First health insurance program would help lower the income eligibility provision, allowing approximately 8,000 more children access to the program.

However, if the tax does what it is partially intended to and reduces the number of smokers in the state, then the tax will generate less revenue to fund state programs.

In addition to the ARKids First campaign, the extra money generated will go to help create a Northwest Arkansas campus for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, community health centers and a statewide flu shot campaign, according to the AP press release.

Some UA students are concerned the tax increase is the wrong move during tough economic times.

"The way the market's going, it's not a good move on the government's part," freshman political science major Ben Brockman said. "If the economy's tanking, I won't be able to buy cigarettes," he said. "I won't be stimulating the economy."

The problem with the tax, Brockman said, is that cigarettes are addictive, so those people who already smoke are not likely to quit, and the health benefits of the tax increase will be minimal.

However, the benefits of a tax increase are not aimed at causing current smokers to quit, but rather to prevent future generations from picking up that first pack, according to a statistics released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

In Arkansas, the 62 cent federal tax increase per pack will result in the prevention of more than 20,000 children becoming addicted adults, according to the release.

Locally, the cost of a single pack of major-brand cigarettes will be more than $5, after the new tax takes effect.

But smokers searching for cheap tobacco products can visit Web sites such as cigarettepricesearch.com, which has links to coupons and allows customers to order cigarettes online.

After the increase takes effect, Arkansas will be No. 25 in the nation on the list of highest tobacco taxes.

The law will also increase the tax on other tobacco products, such as cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco.

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