Chapter 3

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20081120/OPINION03/811200315

The News-Star, a Louisiana newspaper, had an article about trying to reduce the impact of youth smoking. It talks about how youth can have a big impact for the people that smoke and how there's going to be a youth-led anti-tobacco movement. Their focus is to keep teenagers from starting to smoke, and one of the campaigns is called Raiseup. The goal of Raiseup is to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by $1, where the revenue would go to Louisiana's budget. The article states that "studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the excise tax, youth smoking decreases by 7 percent."

In Chapter 3, an important concept is about excise taxes, which are taxes levied by the government on the suppliers of certain products. The taxes may be used as a source of revenue for the government. In relation to the article, the revenue from the excise tax on cigarettes would go to the state's budget. Along with that, they're hoping that by raising the excise tax, this will help to stop teens from starting to smoke. With the majority of teens, price is a factor for a lot of things, so raising the excise tax on cigarettes may be the solution to reduce teen smoking.

Everyone's probably been exposed to second-hand smoke at some point in their lives, and for those who don't smoke, it's probably just plain disgusting. I don't encourage smoking either, so I think it's a pretty good idea to raise the excise tax for cigarettes. A lot of teens don't work, and for the ones that do, it would be part time and roughly $10/hour, which doesn't add up to nearly as much as a full-time working adult. If there is a price increase, many teens won't be able to afford it, so hopefully they'll think twice before the start. On the other hand, teens who are already addicted to it will probably find some other way to get it, like sponging them off of wealthier friends or family.