Targeting Tobacco in Virginia
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Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine badly missed the mark in proposing another cigarette tax increase, which will be paid by a relatively small number of the state's residents ["Kaine Offers Major Shifts in Proposal to Cut Budget," front page, Dec. 17].
Instead, let any tax increase be spread over a broader base, so more of us share the burden. A small tax on cable and satellite television and cellphone service would more than provide the needed revenue.
There would be an additional benefit to doing this. Tobacco taxes simply do not get reduced or repealed once a budget crisis ends, but a cable-satellite TV and cellphone service tax could be.
KATHRYN L. GAY
Alexandria
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Pete Earley was right on the money in his Dec. 19 op-ed "Tobacco's Money Trail in Virginia." Mr. Earley's column offered another disturbing illustration of the corrosive effect on democracy of corporate financial contributions to our elected representatives.
As Mr. Earley stated, raising the cigarette tax is a "no-brainer" for parents struggling to keep their children from starting smoking, for the health of our communities and for the wider body of Virginia taxpayers who will ultimately be asked (by those same elected representatives) to pay in some other, far less beneficial, way, such as through major cuts to services or higher sales taxes.
Perhaps we should insist that any lawmaker who has taken tobacco money should recuse him or herself from voting on cigarette taxes because of a conflict of interest.
CHRISTOPHER NICHOLAS
Earlysville, Va.
