A lot of people probably assume that the billions of dollars being forked over to the states each year under the 1998 tobacco company settlement, along with billions more in tobacco taxes, get spent on efforts to stop smoking and/or for related health care purposes. That’s why it’s always silly to assume anything, especially when it comes to how politicians spend money.
Consider a few tidbits from a January 1 New York Times report on the topic:
• “The vast majority of states spend only a sliver of the money on programs aimed at preventing young people from smoking and helping older smokers quit. Instead, the funds find their way into projects like sports stadiums, a North Carolina knitting plant and sprinklers at an upstate New York golf course.”
• “In all, according to [the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids] report, states allocated $717 million to prevention and cessation programs this fiscal year, 9 percent of the $8.1 billion that they stood to receive from the tobacco companies. The spending represents 3 percent of the sum of their revenues from the settlement and from taxes on tobacco products.”
• “When the settlement was reached in 1998, Congress considered mandating how the funds should be spent. It stopped short, in part because governors and legislators vowed to spend the money wisely, with an eye toward aiding antismoking programs.”
That last one is a real hoot, isn’t it? Politicians spending wisely!?
No comments:
Post a Comment