Preschool, child health advocates urge support of federal tobacco tax

Local and national child advocacy groups have announced their support of any proposal by President Obama to flourish early childhood education by helping the federal tax on tobacco sales.

President Barack Obama's proposal to inflate babyhood education by increasing federal tobacco taxes would enroll one more 4,135 Utah children in preschool and help prevent 9,900 Utah children from becoming addicted smokers.

Those will be the findings of an report released Wednesday with a coalition of organizations like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

While no bill currently is being considered at the national level, funds through the president's proposed 94-cent per pack increase would probably be appropriated to federally-funded babyhood education, for example Head Start or school district-based Title 1 programs.

"Granite School District has a waiting list of about 1,000 kids each and every year," said Karen Crompton, president of Voices for Utah Children, "that is certainly just Granite School District."

Crompton was joined Wednesday at the Utah State Capitol by Anna Guymon on the Weber-Morgan Health Department and Charles Pruitt of Primary Children's Medical Center. These spoke in favor of Obama's proposal as both ways to increase early education for at-risk and low-income children and as a deterrent to teen smoking.

Guymon asserted dips in Utah's cigarette consumption have coincided with years when additional taxes were levied. She stated that because the last state tobacco tax improvement in 2010, youth tobacco use rates have declined in Weber and Morgan counties by 14 percent.

"Every 10 percent boost in cigarette prices reduces youth smoking by about 7 percent, and total cigarette consumption by about 4 percent," Guymon said.

Crompton said their support isn't solely limited to the specifics inside the president's plan. But she said they are pleased that the national discussion has begun on the way to address the requirements of low- and moderate-income children.

"At the moment we've got a great number of kids who smoke and not enough kids by having an possibility to attend preschool," she said. "This really gets at both."

State Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, would have been a key supporter of Utah's 2010 tobacco tax increase. He said he considers anything that enhances the tariff of tobacco to be a "win" situation, but is skeptical of earmarking those tax dollars for the specific expenditure.

He explained by tying a program's funding to tobacco sales, the financial solvency of that program then becomes relying on a nation or state of smokers.

"I don’t like the thought of funding a selected program along with it, I recently like the idea of developing tobacco more expensive," he was quoted saying. "Why should we must stand? Why don’t we rub it toward your debt something like that?"