HEALTH WATCH : Jerk the Perk

It would be an understatement to say that many in Congress cannot go along with major elements of President Clinton’s complex and controversial health care reform proposal. But there is one small part of the measure that even the most jaded observers must concede has wide popular appeal.

The Adminstration’s health care plan takes direct aim at smokers on Capitol Hill. It would hit nicotine addicts in the wallet by eliminating the federal tax break on cigarettes sold in the House and Senate. A pack costs less on the Hill, according to the Roll Call newspaper, because the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t tax cigarettes sold there. That subsidy shaves nearly a quarter off the price of a pack, and diverts thousands of dollars from public coffers.

The version of health care reform that passed the House Ways and Means Committee also would eliminate that exemption, and would tack an additional 45 cents in tax onto every pack of cigarettes to help underwrite the cost of health care for Americans who lack insurance.

The bargain smokes are a popular purchase at House tobacco counters. At least 175,000 packs were sold there last year, according to government records. That should have produced more than $40,000 in federal cigarette taxes. No such records are available on the Senate side.

Eliminating this tiny perk may seem like much ado about nothing. But those quarters add up. It’s also a matter of equity. If legislators and others on Capitol Hill must buy cigarettes, they should have to pay as much there as they do elsewhere.