Prohibiting sale of tobacco products will slow economic recovery

The Linn County Board of Supervisors is planning to vote on whether to ban the sale of dissolvable tobacco products and certain tobacco marketing practices. The county is pursuing this measure because it is a sub-recipient of a $2 million Communities Putting Prevention to Work federal grant to the state. These funds were appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus bill.

This is taxpayer stimulus money that the President and Congress said would be used to end the recession and speed economic recovery. The stated purpose of the stimulus bill was to inject liquidity into the market and stimulate job creation. Using stimulus money to reduce retail sales makes a mockery of that goal. The Linn County plan will have exactly the opposite effect of stimulus: It will suppress the velocity of money in the marketplace and actually slow economic recovery.

Linn County is one of two Iowa counties pursuing these restrictions. It is difficult to conclude that these bans would even be considered in the absence of financial prodding from Washington.

We can debate the pros and cons of these products but the debate really doesn't make much sense when you consider the above. The proposed prohibitions have little to do with the nature of these products and everything to do with the buying of agenda of the Linn Country supervisors by the federal government.

Adam R. Smith

Guppy's on the Go

Cedar Rapids