Health Notes: States rated on tobacco measures

The Minnesota Legislature could improve the state’s fiscal health and its residents’ physical health by increasing the tax on cigarettes.

So argues the American Lung Association in Minnesota in a news release presenting the State of Tobacco Control 2013, which was released on Wednesday.

The report offers letter grades state by state in four categories, and gives Minnesota an “A” in smoke-free air. But the state gets a “C” for its cigarette tax and “F’s” for tobacco prevention and control program funding and for smoking cessation coverage.

The latter is based on low funding for programs to help Minnesotans quit smoking, the Lung Association said. The American Lung Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend spending $10.53 per smoker on the programs, it said. Minnesota spends $1.32 per smoker.

The current tax rate in Minnesota is $1.60 per pack of 20 cigarettes, according to the report.

Wisconsin fared slightly better than Minnesota, with a “B” for its cigarette tax and the same grades in the other three categories. Wisconsin’s tax rate per pack of 20 cigarettes is $2.52.

A coalition of groups is urging the Minnesota Legislature to significantly increase the tobacco tax, the news release said. An organized effort to oppose a tax increase also is under way. It has a website of its own: NoCigTax.com.

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