In an editorial published on March 17, the Sun Journal stated, “the health risks of smoking are undeniable, and the burden of smoking-related illnesses and diseases drives the cost of care and insurance.” In that the author is certainly correct. Maine’s direct health care costs associated with tobacco use are more than $600 million every year.

The editorial then concludes that using tobacco taxes to fund the Dirigo Choice health program is ‘too problematic’ because tobacco taxes are an unreliable funding source. In offering support for this assertion, the editor refers to data gathered from the Maine Revenue Forecasting Committee (MRFC) from which they concluded that tobacco revenues will “plummet $18 million from pre-December through March.” This is not only misleading, it is just plain wrong. There has been no four-month revenue plummet – in predictions or in reality. Rather, there was simply a new and optimistic MRFC projection that was later revised back to where it began (and it was over two years, not four months). If the author had dug a little deeper he would have discovered this.

The reality is that tobacco revenues offer Maine a very predictable source of income. The latest MRFC projection mirrors revenue trends experienced over the past 10 years, in which all tobacco tax increases were followed by spikes in revenue and then gradual (about 1 percent) declines every year.

What’s most unfortunate is that this “unstable revenue” argument is an old stand-by in the tobacco company’s never-ending attempts to keep their products cheap so smokers keep smoking and kids keep starting. It’s disappointing that the Sun Journal took the bait without checking the facts.

Pamela Studwell, Augusta

Senior policy analyst, Maine Coalition on Smoking or Health