4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, JAN. 28, 2002
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Leita Walker editor
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KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
Cigarette tax: smokers should pay up or quit
EDITORIAL
Governor Bill Graves proposed a 65-cent per-pack tax increase on cigarettes in his State of the State address to the Legislature last week.
With the state's current budget problem, the cigarette tax is an excellent way to generate the needed revenue and prevent cuts in public education, universities and social service programs.
Smoking is not vital to survival. If a smoker cannot afford the tax increase, the smoker will pay it or quit. The result is a positive outcome either way.
Kansans can only be so lucky if the Legislature passes this worthwhile proposal.
Graves said Kansas increased cigarette taxes in 1986, and as a result of that increase, Kansas ranked 10th in the nation for cigarette taxes. Sixteen years later, Kansas ranks 35th, he said.
Molly Mueller for the editorial board.
The proposed 65-cent per-pack tax increase will rank Kansas seventh in the nation and produce $111 million per year.
The bottom line is that the Legislature will have to pass some sort of a tax increase to keep Kansas operating, so why not pass the cigarette tax increase?
Graves mentioned other possibilities to create revenue, such as a one-quarter cent increase in sales tax, a 1-cent increase in the motor fuel tax, and a 3 percent increase in car and truck registration fees. While these are acceptable possibilities, the cigarette tax proposal would be best.
Smoking is not a necessity compared to groceries, which would be affected by an increase in sales tax. If smokers continue to purchase cigarettes, the state will benefit from the tax increase. If smokers cannot afford this tax increase, they need to quit smoking.
Kansas loses 5,000 people to smoking-related illnesses every year. This tax proposal could be beneficial in ways beyond creating revenue for the state.
Graves explained that national studies show increasing cigarette taxes reduces smoking by minors. Any step to prevent underage smoking is a positive one. According to the latest surveys, 26.1 percent of Kansas high school students smoke.
If this tax increase could prohibit any underage smokers from smoking, then it is a beneficial tax increase.
Because Kansas' budget is extremely tight, there isn't extra money for more anti-smoking programs for teens. Why not pass legislation that creates revenue and can help reduce smoking among minors?
Another idea is to add alcohol into the proposed tax increase along with cigarettes. Like cigarettes, alcohol has many negative effects and is not essential to everyday life, unlike gas and groceries.
Alcohol is more expensive, so raising the tax at a much lower rate is another possibility to generate revenue for the tight budget.
By the Numbers
220
Number of U.S. universities and colleges that were asked by law enforcement agencies to release student information last fall.
Percentage that released the students' information without informing them
them.
90
Sources: American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officials
Percentage of college students who say they intend to pursue a foreign language.
175
Percent who are actually enrolled in a foreign language course.
Source: American Council on Education
Minimum number of antitrax hoaxes reported in the U.S. in the three years before Sept. 11, 2001.
Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who say they are boarding Cipro so as to avoid an 'ironic death.' Source: Monterey Institute for International Studies and the Washington Post
PERSPECTIVE
MLK speech calls for Americans to end violence and chain of hate
In a recent speech commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President Bush told the American people we should honor King by living by his principles and by fighting for those principles. The principle of King was one of nonviolence founded in a deep-rooted philosophy of love.
As a nation, it is time we start living by the principles of King and stop fighting for them, because to do both is not possible. It sickens me to see our nation celebrate the legacy and ideals of a man so committed to justice and nonviolence while ravishing impoverished nations with bombs and occupying all corners of the globe with military might.
GUEST COMMENTARY
King wisely said, "Somewhere, somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love."
Thomas Fawcett
opinion@kansan.com
Now, I'm aware that some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won't like you. They're going to dislike you, not because of something you've done to them, but because of various jealous reactions and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.
But after admitting this, we must realize that an individual might dislike us because of our personality or something we've done in the past — but it was that something that aroused the hate within the individual.
This is true in our international struggle. Democracy is the greatest form of government to my mind that man has ever conceived, but it hasn't been perfect. We've taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes and trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression. Our Western powers have perpetrated colonialism and imperialism.
We must face the fact that the deep rumblings of discontent in Asia and Africa are at bottom a revolt against the imperialism and colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many years.
I'm convinced King would urge us to recognize we are not perfect — that America has been the source of a great deal of suffering around the world. And he would urge us to be that someone with some sense — to recognize that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness.
We must cut off the chain of hate.
Fawcett is a Lawrence junior in anthropology.
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For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
There is nobody more American than Native Americans.
I think it's disguising that KU is spending $1 million to put up an ugly arch in front of Templin and at the same time destroying a great field.
To whoever attacked and destroyed my rear windshield, it'll cost me over $600 to repair that. That makes me very unhappy.
To the guy who doesn't like the girl who works in the Dillons post office, which Dillons is that exactly?
Uh yeah, uh TRL, I'd like to request the new Gavin Smith joint "Throw your hands up."
Why doesn't the new sex column have the nuts to write about anything juicy.
OK, I'm only taking a guess here, but if people aren't going to vote in the Kansan.com projection whether they're going to vote in the presidential election, they're not going to vote at all. Maybe we should vote by Free for All. How's that for a change?
Kareem Rush? More like Kareem Slow.
This is ghetto.
Seriously, the crossword puzzle answers don't need to be there for the same day that the crossword is published for. Really just don't do that. That's bad.
The powdery substance in Fraser bathrooms is not cocaine. I repeat, not cocaine.
I was appalled to see Drew Gooden spike the ball on the floor at the end of the Iowa State game. You play for the No. 2 team in the nation, Drew. Have some class.
I just broke up with my boyfriend and I'm looking for comfort in the arms of another man. I'm accepting applications, commitments not necessary. Thanks.
I think the communications department here at KU really sucks, and they need to offer a lot more classes to students, because obviously when they're overflowing with 50 or more students for each class there's a problem. Something needs to be done.
Would all the man-whores please report to hell.
I can't believe they'll let an announcer on national TV call our player Dwight Gooden twice in one game.
Pay college athletes, you mean in addition to the free tuition, free housing, and free meals and $250 a month? Great idea.
Since Kirk Hinrich looks like the little boy in the Hyundai commercial that says, "Zoom zoom," I think that whenever he makes a good play all the students should say "Zoom zoom." Come on, it would be funny.
Does anyone else agree that the best play of the KU- Iowa State basketball game was when Drew Gooden spiked the ball at the end? I thought that was pretty funny.
PERSPECTIVE
Enron a good lesson for ignorant optimists
Optimism, that most American of traits, once again showed its dangerous side with the collapse of Enron last month.
If the recent economic woes did not check the hectic growth of marketization, then the current debacle should give pause to people who invest their money with high hopes and an improper understanding of their investments.
The stockholders and average employees are not criminals. The real thugs are the head brass who unloaded their stocks while continuing to encourage their employees to invest in Enron. Company employees lost more than $1 billion as a result of the sudden drop in Enron stock (The current value of one share is now roughly equal to that of a ping pong ball).
C. E.O. Kenneth Lay and his cohorts deserve prison sentences; their dishonesty cost employees more money than any junkie, bank robber or Tony Soprano could ever steal. The accounting firm of Arthur Andersen, the supposed check on Enron, discovered that
it was more cost effective to shred documents than to expose its client's tricks.
Luckily, so far it does not appear that the White House or U.S. government had any nefarious dealings with the influential "Kenny Boy" during the last desperate months of his tenure at Enron. Of course partisans on both sides, the highest echelons of the Justice Department and the entire city of Houston have had to recuse themselves from any impending investigation.
COMMENTARY
But the corporate heads and corrupt accountants aren't the only ones to blame for the losses faced by many Enron employees. These employees are also at fault. For those workers who relied too heavily on those company stocks that once seemed destined to break the $100-per-share mark, their poor investing has spoiled their plans for the future.
Bradley E. Freedman opinion@kansan.com
It was bound to happen. The gung-ho spirit of the '90s created a country in which more than half of all Americans owned stocks. MSNBC is casual viewing for 20-somethings. Another word being thrown around was "diversification," the
best way to achieve positive gains in the long run.
But Americans are not fond of "in the long run." Thus, the investors whose portfolios relied on Enron were wiped out. For employees who tried to plan for the long run but overloaded their retirement plans with Enron stock, the result is devastating.
The Enron fiasco should give pause to anyone who is out to get rich quickly or has a portfolio without understanding it. Ignorance is no excuse in the market. It will not get your money back once it is lost.
Stockholders have the right to insist on fair play from companies, and the government has the right to ensure honesty and transparency. But the government does not have the obligation to protect people from themselves, or to limit people's 401(k) options, as some Democratic senators are beginning to suggest.
Most of us are not Kenneth Lay. Most of us are the future 401(k)ers who will work hard for our money. We enter the market as optimists and with good intentions. But the collapse of Enron has taught a lesson that the realists already know: Optimism can be a virtue, especially when trying to climb out of a hole. Realists anticipate the holes before they arise, and they study ways to avoid those inevitable pitfalls.
You needn't be an economics major to be a smart, realistic investor. You just need patience and an understanding of American market capitalism. For students, the warnings of Enron offer the chance to avoid the errors that are now affecting real people who made costly mistakes with the best intentions.
Freedman is an Overland Park graduate student in history.