Indiana health care providers urge Governor Holcomb to support $2 cigarette tax increase
The Honorable Governor Eric Holcomb Indiana Statehouse, 2nd floor Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Dear Governor Holcomb,
News
Letter in Lincoln Journal Star: Time for state to raise tobacco tax
April 5, 2019
I am lifting my voice in support of raising the tax on tobacco products in Nebraska. It’s been 17 years since lawmakers last raised the tax on tobacco products, and we are long overdue.
I volunteer for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, a nonpartisan advocacy organization that is working to reduce the impact cancer has on our state. This group advocates for a tax increase of $1.50 per pack of cigarettes and an equivalent amount for other tobacco products.
It’s important to me because I lost my aunt to cancer as a result of years and years of smoking, ever since she was a teenager. She leaves behind her two children and family that mourn her loss.
Death from smoking and tobacco use is wasted pain -- nothing good comes from it! This senseless loss of life is something that can be prevented, and it can start with this tax increase.
We have to do more to drive down the 27 percent of cancer deaths in Nebraska that are attributed to tobacco. We have to stand up to Big Tobacco. I am urging our state senators to support the tobacco tax increase, and I ask you to do the same.
Matthew Pohren, Omaha
https://journalstar.com/opinion/letters/letter-time-for-state-to-raise-t...