Senators Hear Tobacco Tax Bill

By Steph Scheurer, Reporter, KX News
State senators hear a bill to increase the tax on tobacco.
If passed, the tax on a pack of cigarettes would increase to two dollars.
“I support this bill whole-heartedly,” says Valerie Schoepf, Vice President, Tobacco Free Coalition.
Valerie Schoepf is Vice President of the Tobacco Free Coalition.
Today she shares her personal story in favor of a tobacco tax incentive bill.
“I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school when my dad passed away from lung and brain cancer. He got hooked as a smoker growing up in Parshall North Dakota and he was a lifelong smoker,” says Schoepf.
Senate Bill 2322 would increase taxes on tobacco products from 28 percent to 50 percent.
For cigarettes, the tax would go from 44 cents to two dollars a pack.
“The research without question says it is the cost of tobacco that drives its use,” says Tim Mathern, District 11 Senator.
The bill also adjusts the definition of other tobacco products to include new tobacco and tobacco driven products, like e-cigarettes.
Schoepf says three components are needed to prevent people from taking up smoking.
“Price, tobacco free environments, and education. North Dakota’s doing great on two of those but we’re missing that third leg and that’s diluting those other A plus efforts,” says Schoepf.
“Having one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the nation is not something that we should be proud of. It’s time to raise the tobacco tax for the health of our state and to help protect our youth from a lifelong addiction to nicotine and the deadly consequences of tobacco,” Kristie Wolff, Program Manager, American Lung Assoc. ND.
Not everyone agrees with raising the tobacco tax however.
Mike Rud, President of the North Dakota Retailers Association says North Dakota’s economy is strong and is the last state that needs a business tax increase of any kind.
“Increasing the excise tax could hurt legitimate retailers when adult smokers shift purchases across state lines or to other outlets and as you heard today, at two dollars a pack, we would now be higher than South Dakota and Montana,” says Mike Rud, President, ND Retailers Assoc.
For Carol Two Eagle, tobacco is a part of her daily spiritual life.
“When you tax tobacco, you’re taxing something that’s essential for our religious practice and that’s unconstitutional. I am not sure how you’re going to get around this. but it needs to be addressed because we are the only group in North America, traditional indians, who require this material. Tobacco in our way is holy,” Carol Two Eagle.
Over a dozen people shared their viewpoint with legislators – some for the bill, and some against…
Sponsoring senators say the bill would save an estimated one billion dollars in healthcare costs over the next 10 years.
If passed, the new tobacco tax revenue would be deposited in a state general fund and legislators would decide how the revenue is to be spent.
The bill would exclude FDA approved cessation products like patches and lozenges.
To read more or watch video: http://www.kxnet.com/story/28027041/senators-hear-tobacco-tax-bill