Dear Editor
As Vermont lawmakers work to reshape our education system and ease the burden of property taxes, it’s worth asking: why not turn to a revenue source that also improves public health— tobacco taxes?
Vermont’s cigarette tax hasn’t changed since 2015 and remains at $3.08 per pack. Increasing that tax by $1.50 would offer dual benefits: it would reduce smoking-related illness and death, and generate much-needed revenue for education reform.
The health benefits are clear. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, such an increase could reduce smoking rates by up to 10.6% and help about 1,900 Vermont adults quit. That means hundreds of lives saved every year — 500 fewer premature deaths, many from preventable heart attacks. At UVMMC, nearly half of all heart attack patients are current smokers.
Tobacco-related illness costs Vermont $404 million annually, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Reducing smoking will reduce these costs significantly. Over five years, we could save $340,000 from fewer lung cancer cases, $570,000 from healthier pregnancies and births, and $270,000 from reduced heart attacks and strokes. Vermont Medicaid alone could save $380,000 in that period — and long-term savings from reduced tobacco use could top $26 million.
And there’s more. In the first year of a $1.50 tax increase, Vermont would collect an estimated $9.57 million in new revenue — funds that could directly support a better, fairer education system for all our children.
This is a chance to do what’s right — protect public health and support our schools. I urge our legislators to support an increase in tobacco taxes. Let’s turn a deadly habit into a lifeline for Vermont’s future.
Prospero B. Gogo, Jr., MD
Burlington
(Dr. Gogo is a Professor of Medicine and has been a faculty member of the University of Vermont Medical Center practicing interventional cardiology since 2005. He is currently the chair of the advocacy committee of the Vermont chapter of the American Heart Association.)
