[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   TOBACCO PETITION BY YVONNA MATTHIS

                                 ______


                        HON. H. MARTIN LANCASTER

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 29, 1994

  Mr. LANCASTER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform you of a 
remarkable effort by a private citizen. Yvonna Matthis, a resident of 
Greenville, NC, recently sent me the names of over 1,000 women and men 
who are strongly opposed to any increase in Federal excise taxes on 
tobacco products.
  As one of the only two Members of Congress who grew up on a tobacco 
farm, I am also gravely concerned about the recent attacks on tobacco. 
I am certain that many of the signers of Yvonna Matthis' petition are 
tobacco farmers or relatives, neighbors, and friends of them. Like many 
of us who have grown up in tobacco-growing regions, they know the 
damage a tobacco tax increase would cause to farmers, agribusiness 
owners, workers, and manufacturers.
  Mr. Speaker, it would be next to impossible for many of these 
families to survive if tobacco revenues were lost. For example, the 
farmers of the Third District of North Carolina are among the most 
diversified of all farmers. They produce a variety of field crops, such 
as peppers, wheat, corn, cucumbers, cotton, and sweet potatoes. 
However, 1 acre of any of these crops brings in less than one-third of 
the profit generated by an acre of tobacco.
  For Americans engaged in the production of tobacco and tobacco 
products, a 45-cent increase in the cigarette excise tax and the 
proportional increase in the tax on some smokeless tobacco products 
would cause the displacement of more than 170,500 workers. Workers in 
cigarette manufacturing plants are the highest paid industrial workers 
in America, all living in the South. Sixty percent of this work force 
are women and 25 percent are African-Americans.
  The impact of these statistics, Mr. Speaker, is overwhelmingly more 
poignant when I consider the thoughts and feelings of the more than 
1,000 individuals who signed Yvonna Matthis' petition. And this 
dramatic show of opposition is just the effort of one American. I am 
positive that there are scores of other women and men who, like Yvonna 
Matthis and me, realize how unfairly an increase in the tobacco tax 
affects tobacco producers and consumers. It is as if we would associate 
these law-abiding citizens with the likes of the Colombian drug 
cartels.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Yvonna Matthis on a 
tremendous accomplishment, and to extend my thanks for this outstanding 
effort.

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