Letter: Shame on North Dakota tobacco product sellers

By Howard Oppegard from Valley City, N.D.

Shame on retailers who oppose a tax increase on tobacco products in North Dakota (Forum story, Feb. 4).
Since greed may be their motivation they should be reminded cancer victims do not buy anything. My sister, a smoker, died from lung cancer one month after her 50th birthday.
http://www.inforum.com/letters/3674263-letter-shame-north-dakota-tobacco-product-sellers

Bismarck Tribune: Legislators need to get tobacco bill right

Bismarck Tribune Editorial Board:

On the surface, a bill to raise tobacco taxes would seem a no-brainer to many North Dakotans.

The state ranks 46th nationally in tobacco taxes at 44 cents per pack, ahead of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia.

Supporters of a higher tax argue it will deter young people from picking up the habit, nudge smokers to quit and provide more money to the state.

House Bill 1421 would raise the state’s cigarette tax to $1.54 per pack and increase the excise tax on other tobacco products from 28 percent of the wholesale purchase price to 43.5 percent.

There have been efforts to raise tobacco taxes since 1993, with the latest failed attempt in 2013. A hearing this week on the bill pitted health care officials against business interests.

Mike Rud, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association, suggested the state shouldn’t tamper with an economy that remains robust. He said his association opposes the bill, and that increasing the tax would make it more difficult for retailers along the Montana and South Dakota borders, states where the taxes would be lower.

However, Dr. Eric Johnson, of Grand Forks, noted the state gets a flunking grade from the American Lung Association when it comes to tobacco taxes.

Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, said the bill is intended to stop young preople from smoking, while generating an estimated $103.5 million in new revenue in the 2015-17 biennium.

Supporters of the bill expect to have it both ways. They predict the higher taxes will prevent approximately 7,500 people younger than 18 from smoking and prompt an estimated 8,000 adult smokers to quit. They also see a possible $300 million in savings in future health care expenditures. It’s likely fewer smokers will result in fewer health problems and reduce the impact on health care. Plus supporters expect the $103.5 million in new revenue.

Fewer smokers is a laudable goal — there’s no doubt that tobacco poses a health risk and increases medical costs for everyone. The bill’s health benefits should be the focus of legislative action — we shouldn’t be looking at the dollar signs.

Smoking remains legal, though where smoking can occur has been limited. Raising taxes for health reasons has merit, but raising them to punish people doesn’t.

Under the bill, 60 percent of new revenue would go toward health-related programs in the state’s Community Health Trust Fund. The rest would go to local communities for health-related programs.

Designating the money for health programs shouldn’t translate into funding more anti-smoking campaigns that already are well-financed. There are more deserving programs than can be counted. The Legislature needs to ensure the money goes to the right programs.

North Dakota needs to do everything it can to prevent more people from smoking and to encourage smokers to quit. Lawmakers need to take a close look at HB1421 to be sure it achieves those goals. It shouldn’t be done to create a new revenue stream.

Done correctly, HB1421 should be approved. Improving the health of the state’s residents should be the goal of all North Dakotans.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/legislators-need-to-get-tobacco-bill-right/article_629fb919-ead5-52b0-b62b-0a5143d7e6a9.html

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

Increases in tobacco tax opposed by businesses

By Mike Nowatzki, Forum Communications

BISMARCK — Retailers and distributors urged state lawmakers Tuesday to snuff out a bill that would raise North Dakota’s tobacco taxes for the first time in 22 years, warning it could have a “devastating” impact on businesses, spur cigarette smuggling and unfairly burden smokers who can least afford it.

Backers of the $1.10-per-pack increase in House Bill 1421 said it will put North Dakota on par with the national average, save millions in avoided health care costs, prevent young people from starting smoking and give adults the incentive they need to quit.

“I look at it as a silent intervention,” Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, the bill’s prime sponsor, told the House Finance and Taxation Committee during a standing-room-only hearing at the Capitol.

The president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association, which lobbied successfully against a similar bill last session, said cigarettes are the top revenue generator for convenience stores, accounting for 32 percent of in-store sales nationwide.

Raising the tax could drive smokers across state lines or to the Internet or American Indian reservations, where tobacco isn’t taxed, Mike Rud said.

“With the retail sector of the state’s economy hitting on all cylinders, why would any legislator support throwing a wrench into the economic engine?” he said.

Bill supporters lamented that North Dakota’s current excise tax of 44 cents per pack is the 46th lowest in the nation and hasn’t been raised since 1993.

The bipartisan bill would boost the tax to $1.54 per pack, which is the national average and 1 cent higher than South Dakota’s tax. Taxes would increase from $0.60 to $2.72 per ounce on snuff, and from $0.16 to $0.73 per ounce on chewing tobacco.

Rep. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, a bill co-sponsor, said the proposed tax was intentionally kept at or below the tax leves of surrounding states so as not to disadvantage North Dakota businesses. Montana’s tax is $1.70 per pack, while Minnesota’s is $2.90, seventh highest among states.

Committee member Rep. Wayne Trottier, R-Northwood, asked Nelson if the tax hike would end up “on the backs of children” of low-income parents who choose to keep smoking. Nelson and others acknowledged that statistics show smoking rates are higher among the less affluent, but he said the higher tax will hopefully make them think twice about smoking.

“If children don’t rank higher than a pack of cigarettes or a pouch of Copenhagen, for example, then what have we become?” he said.

The tax hike would boost state revenue by an estimated $138.6 million in the 2015-17 biennium, assuming an 11 percent drop in cigarette consumption and 15 percent drop in use of other tobacco products, according to the bill’s fiscal note. North Dakota collected roughly $31 million from cigarette and tobacco taxes last year, up from $21 million in 2004.

Sixty percent of the new tax revenue would go into the state’s Community Health Trust. Counties and cities would receive 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively, for local public health and safety programs.

Dr. Eric Johnson, president of Tobacco Free North Dakota, said North Dakota is a leader in tobacco prevention and control programs and has a strong smoke-free indoor air law.

“That’s really the hole in our preventive strategy right now,” he said of the tax.

Paul Mutch, owner of Mutch Oil Co. in Larimore, about 25 miles west of Grand Forks, said it’s “unbelievable” that a state in North Dakota’s financial condition would consider raising taxes on anything. He said a tobacco tax would hit the middle class the hardest.

“The lady on Social Security who comes in and buys two cartons per week as she carries an oxygen tank is not going to quit smoking because they now cost more,” he said in written testimony.

A companion bill, Senate Bill 2322, would raise the cigarette tax to $2 per pack. That bill has its first hearing Wednesday.

http://www.jamestownsun.com/news/state/3671277-increases-tobacco-tax-opposed-businesses

Teen tobacco users likely to use it in multiple forms

By Reuters Media

A national survey of U.S. middle and high school students finds that those who use tobacco or nicotine products are likely to also use more than one type of product.

About 15 percent of the adolescents reported smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, bidis, hookahs or water pipes, using dissolvable forms of tobacco or “vaping” e-cigarettes. And twice as many in that group used two or more of these product types compared to those who said they used only one.

“Our study really shows that kids are using more than one of these products at the same time,” said Youn Ok Lee of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the report’s lead author.

Lee said there are many varieties of tobacco products available. And each type of product also has a diverse range of options, such as flavors.

“So we don’t really know a lot about how this range of products might affect kids’ use of tobacco,” she told Reuters Health.

Using data from a 2012 national survey of nearly 25,000 U.S. students, researchers found that about 7 percent reported using one tobacco product in the past 30 days. About 4 percent said they used two tobacco products in that time. Another 4 percent said they used three or more products.

“I was a little bit surprised by just how many kids were using more than one product,” Lee said. “Even more surprising was that using three or more products is more popular than using cigarettes alone.”

Overall, about 3 percent of kids exclusively used cigarettes and about 2 percent exclusively used cigars. Those products were the most popular and their use increased with age.

The study team also found that almost 1 percent of students reported exclusively using e-cigarettes, which contain no tobacco but deliver a vapor laced with nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco.

That’s more than the 0.4 percent who reported using e-cigarettes in combination with traditional cigarettes.

The increasing popularity of e-cigarettes is a concern for U.S. health officials as use has tripled between 2013 and 2014.

Lee noted that the results don’t tell why young people are using more than one form of tobacco, or how often the survey participants had used the products.

The researchers did find that being a boy, using flavored products, being dependent on nicotine, being receptive to advertising and having friends who used any tobacco products were all factors linked to an increased risk of using more than one product.

Policymakers and researchers should look at how these products affect tobacco use among middle and high school students, said Lee, because little is known about the influence of non-cigarette products.

Moreover, these products may create a public health issue by introducing people who would never have smoked cigarettes to nicotine, she said.

Lee emphasized that it’s important to look at all tobacco products together – not individually.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1za0ykL Pediatrics, online February 2, 2015.

http://www.inforum.com/news/3671610-teen-tobacco-users-likely-use-it-multiple-forms

Opinion: Raise tobacco tax

By: REBEKAH HARTMAN, Mandan
It is time for North Dakota to raise the tobacco tax. I know firsthand that raising the price is an effective way to help people quit smoking.
I am personally affected by our state’s low rate of tobacco taxes as my husband is in a constant struggle to battle his addiction to tobacco. When we lived in Minnesota, the price of cigarettes was high enough that buying a pack forced him to stop and think about what — exactly — the money was going for and if there was a better way to spend the dollars. Now that we’re in North Dakota, where the cigarette prices are shockingly low, there is little pause when deciding to buy a pack.
I’m urging our state legislators to support the proposals before them to increase the state tobacco taxes. Our elected officials should seize the opportunity to increase taxes on all tobacco products as it would reduce smoking rates, support countless people who are desperately trying to break their addiction, and ultimately lower health care costs for all North Dakotans.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/mailbag/raise-tobacco-tax/article_7d15ce12-df00-50f2-a0e2-47a0658cfa34.html

Proposed tobacco tax hike debated

By Nick Smith, Bismarck Tribune

Screen Shot 2015-02-08 at 5.28.04 PMHealth care officials gathered to voice support Tuesday for an increase to the state’s tobacco tax while business leaders lined up in defense of the status quo.

Nearly 50 people packed the Fort Totten Room for the hearing on House Bill 1421 before the House Finance and Taxation Committee.

HB1421 takes aim at North Dakota’s tax rate for tobacco. The state ranks 46th nationally in tobacco taxes at 44 cents per pack, ahead of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia.

HB1421 would raise the state’s cigarette tax to $1.54 per pack. It would also raise the excise tax on other tobacco products from 28 percent of the wholesale purchase price to 43.5 percent.

Similar legislation died in 2013, one of several previous unsuccessful legislative efforts to raise the tax since it was last increased in 1993.

“This bill is intended to stop young people from beginning to smoke. This is primarily for the health of North Dakota,” said Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, who estimated $103.5 million in new revenue would be generated during the 2015-17 biennium.

That figures does not include the $50 million per biennium the state’s general fund would still receive in tobacco taxes.

Sixty percent of new revenue would go toward health-related programs in the state’s Community Health Trust Fund. The rest would go to local communities for health-related programs.

Cost of prevention

Data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says a cigarette tax of $2 per pack would prevent approximately 7,500 people younger than 18 to not smoke and prompt an estimated 8,000 adult smokers to kick the habit. The organization also claims this could result in $300 million in savings in future health care expenditures.

“With the retail sector of the state’s economy hitting on all cylinders, why would any legislator support throwing a wrench into the economic engine?” asked Mike Rud, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2012 shows that tobacco use isn’t a major problem in North Dakota, according to Rud, pointing out that North Dakota ranked 37th in adult smoking and 49th in smokeless tobacco use. Rud said among youth smokers North Dakota ranked 34th among 44 states reporting data.

“Contrary to what some may believe, North Dakota retailers don’t stand in the driveway or on the storeroom floor attempting to sell tobacco products,” Rud said. “We simply attempt to meet consumer demand. Don’t tie our hands.”

Dr. Eric Johnson, of Grand Forks, said North Dakota largely gets top marks from the American Lung Association’s annual state by state report card on tobacco control. Prices are the one area in which North Dakota gets a flunking grade, which Johnson called the main hole in the state’s tobacco cessation program.

Johnson also criticized the state for being 46th in tobacco taxes.

“If we were 46th in diabetes and obesity management, I don’t think we’d be happy with that,” Johnson said.

Paul Mutch, owner of Mutch Oil Company in Larimore, also voiced opposition to HB1421.

Mutch said, with national discussion on middle class needs and taxes, he found it odd the state would consider raising any taxes that would impact lower-income individuals most. CDC data puts 32 percent of North Dakotans earning less than $15,000 annually as smokers compared to 15.5 percent for those earning more than $50,000.

“I don’t believe raising taxes would result in any fewer smokers,” Mutch said. “Just more North Dakota residents with less money in their pockets for the things they really need.”

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/proposed-tobacco-tax-hike-debated/article_421fdf67-d289-5036-ae3c-a170e0e882a4.html

Grand Forks Park Board still uncertain on tobacco ban

By Charly Haley, Grand Forks Herald

After about 15 people stood up simultaneously during a Grand Forks Park Board meeting Tuesday and told the board they support tobacco-free parks, most board members remained uncertain about banning tobacco use.

“A general issue is, does the Park Board want to keep in fidelity with its mission to promote a healthy lifestyle?” said Jim Whitehead, a representative of the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Grand Forks, to the board.

A ban on all tobacco use, both smoking and chewing, has been discussed by the Park Board for about two years. The idea is championed by Park Board member Molly Soeby, but other board members haven’t stated clear opinions on the issue.

In a back-and-forth between audience members speaking in favor of a tobacco ban, most Park Board members said the answer isn’t simple.

“I don’t think any of us are here to say we want smoking for our kids,” board member Tim Skarperud said. But, “We already have a pretty substantial law in place, and are we here to set laws?”

Board President Jay Panzer agreed.

“Who are we to make additional laws above and beyond what the city has already done?” Panzer said.

Grand Forks city code prohibits smoking at the Park District’s softball fields and golf courses, but that does not include chewing tobacco, and the law does not encompass playgrounds or dog parks, Soeby said.

She offered health statistics in favor of a full tobacco ban, including that more children than adults chew tobacco in North Dakota, at 13.8 percent of children versus 7.6 percent of adults.

Other board members said they agree there are health problems associated with tobacco use, but they still aren’t sure about the effectiveness of a tobacco ban, especially because it would be difficult to enforce.

Board member Paul Barta said he’s also undecided, but he’s leaning in favor of the Park Board “setting the trend” by banning all tobacco use in public parks.

While several audience members spoke in favor of the tobacco ban, none spoke against it.

“You have people here, in chairs, telling you how important this is for Grand Forks,” one audience member said. “Where are they?”

LaDouceur, Skarperud and Panzer said they’ve received several calls from people against the ban, and they want to consider those people, too, in making a decision.

“There are certain people that want to be out in the front like this,” Skarperud said, referring to the audience at the meeting, “and there are certain people we talk to behind the scenes.”

Park District Director Bill Palmiscno said he’s hopeful the Park Board will vote in favor of some sort of expanded tobacco ban, whether that’s banning all tobacco use in parks or extending the smoking ban to all parks.

“I don’t want us to not move forward because we can’t have a compromise,” Palmiscno said. “I would rather get part of this done than nothing done.”

Park Board members did not vote on a tobacco policy Tuesday.

Palmiscno said he’d have Park District staff draft two ordinances — one with a full tobacco ban, and another with an increased ban — to be reviewed at a future board meeting.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/local/3670918-grand-forks-park-board-still-uncertain-tobacco-ban

Pro-business lobby speaks out against ND tobacco tax bills

By Nick Smith / Bismarck Tribune

BISMARCK – Lawmakers attempting to raise the state’s tax on tobacco products for the first time in more than two decades acknowledge long odds as they face off with business groups that have successfully beaten back previous efforts.

One tobacco tax bill has been introduced in each chamber. The head of a state retail association says lawmakers’ efforts are misguided and would hurt businesses when the state is wrestling with a potentially tough budgeting effort due to slowing oil activity.

North Dakota ranks 46th nationally in tobacco taxes at 44 cents per pack, higher than Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia. The price hasn’t been raised since 1993.

The two pieces of legislation aimed at tobacco taxes are House Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 2322.

HB1421 would raise the state’s cigarette tax to $1.54 per pack. It would also raise the excise tax on other tobacco products from 28 percent of the wholesale purchase price to 43.5 percent. The House Finance and Taxation Committee picks up the bill at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

SB2322 would raise the cigarette tax in the state to $2 per pack.

North Dakota Retail Association President Mike Rud is adamant in his opposition.

“This isn’t the time to tax any business in North Dakota,” Rud said. “The idea that a tax increase is going to help people not smoke, it doesn’t hold any water.”

HB1421 prime sponsor Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, disagreed.

“We’ll just present factual data that should support the fact that this will decrease the number of smokers,” Nelson said.

The recently unveiled legislation was touted along with data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The organization’s data says a cigarette tax of $2 per pack would prevent an estimated 7,500 people younger than 18 to not smoke and prompt an estimated 8,000 adult smokers to kick the habit. The organization also claims this could result in $300 million in savings in future health care expenditures.

Long odds

Nelson admitted the tobacco tax bills face long odds: Similar legislation failed in 2013.

“We’re going to need a lot of help from our stakeholder groups to get over the hill,” Nelson said.

He said HB1421 would generate an estimated $103.5 million during the 2015-17 biennium. This doesn’t include the $50 million per biennium the state’s general fund would still receive in tobacco taxes.

“I think public sentiment is the main thing,” Nelson said. “We need the public to weigh in.”

Through HB1421, 60 percent of the new revenue would go toward health-related programs in the state’s Community Health Trust Fund, Nelson said. The rest would go to local communities for health-related programs.

Low smoking rates

Rud countered with 2012 data from the Centers for Disease control and prevention that shows tobacco use isn’t a major problem in North Dakota.

“North Dakota’s smoking rates are very low despite the state having some of the lowest tobacco taxes in the nation,” Rud said.

He said North Dakota in 2012 ranked 37th in adult smoking and 49th in smokeless tobacco use. Rud said among youth smokers, North Dakota ranked 34th among 44 states reporting data.

“Proponents of raising the state’s tobacco taxes would have us believe that low taxes are encouraging more tobacco use. But that contention isn’t supported by the data,” Rud said.

SB2322 prime sponsor Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, said the key target in tobacco tax legislation is youth.

“If we can keep them from smoking up to age 18, the odds of them ever smoking is close to zero,” Mathern said.

Mathern said North Dakotans have had smoke-free public places since June 2012. He said arguments against smoke-free public places were that it would negatively impact restaurants and bars.

“The scares that were around before … have proven not to be the case,” Mathern said.

He said retailers, such as gas stations, also have little to worry about.

“I would say to all these store owners: Do they want their children to smoke? Do they smoke? Consider the broader implications,” Mathern said.

Mathern said he believed the savings on health care to employees and having more healthy customers alive and able to come into their stores for other purchases would offset the losses in tobacco sales.

http://www.inforum.com/news/3670143-pro-business-lobby-speaks-out-against-nd-tobacco-tax-bills

Fargo Forum: Trygve Olson Cartoon

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http://www.inforum.com/opinion/cartoons/3667507-trygve-olson-cartoon-020115