Governor misses important chance

State lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Phil Bredesen missed a significant opportunity last week to help a number of Tennesseans burdened by a tax on food and to take a small step toward revising the state’s archaic tax system.

The effort to increase the state’s tax on cigarettes while reducing the tax on food died Thursday in the Senate Finance Committee, with only five of the 11 members voting in favor of it. Six votes were needed for passage.

The bill would have raised the cigarette tax, the third lowest in the nation, by only 14 cents per pack to 34 cents, keeping it well under the national average of 91 cents per pack. At the same time, the tax on groceries would have been cut from 6 percent to 5 percent _ not a large drop but enough to point the state’s tax system in the right direction.

The measure was sponsored by Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, and drew a yes vote in the committee from Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville.

Blame the tobacco industry or the state’s farming interests, but that might be too easy and beside the point.

Instead, it is more likely that no one wants to risk tampering with the state’s fragile tax system during an election year, even with an anticipated surplus in the state coffers for the current year and the fiscal year that begins July 1.

This is not merely an economic measure. It is one that makes a statement about where Tennessee’s elected leaders stand on relieving a burden on the poor and on a persistent and pernicious health issue.