Maryland health advocates call for $1 cigarette tax hike

BALTIMORE - They still huff and they puff, but if health advocates in Maryland get their way, smokers will have to pay more for their cigarettes.

"I think it's unfair they tax the smoker,” said William Johnson as he extinguished a cigarette outside the Mitchell Courthouse in downtown Baltimore, “It's gotten out of hand I think."

The state raised the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 three years ago, but now the Healthy Maryland Initiative is pushing for another hike.

"What we're announcing today is another $1 increase in Maryland's cigarette tax," said Health Initiative President Vincent DeMarco.

Advocates say the proposed increase would save 15,000 lives, while raising $100 million to get people to stop smoking, to keep others from starting in the first place and to fund healthcare for the uninsured.

But a key supporter, Dr. David Hexkter of the Maryland State Medical Society, says he hopes it doesn’t stop there.

"We're pleased to join in this coalition to increase the taxes or perhaps adjust places where smoking is allowed to help reach our vision, which again is tobacco... that Maryland be a tobacco-free state... the first one in this country," said Dr. Hexkter.

That could mean expanding the areas where people are prohibited from smoking if they can still afford the habit.

The price of cigarettes per pack is now up to about $5 or $6 leading many people here in Baltimore to buy single cigarettes for as much as 50 cents or $1 apiece.

In an effort to cut back, Linda Harmon buys one smoke at a time, but she’d hate to give that one up.

"Cigarette smoking is one of the hardest addictions that I went through, cause I stopped one week and the next thing you know, somebody got on my nerves,” said Harmon, “So instead of picking up a drink or a drug, I pick up a cigarette."

The coalition is also calling upon lawmakers to extend the proposed tax to all forms of tobacco including cigars and smokeless products.