The sponsor of a bill to raise taxes on tobacco products, including vaping, says it’s a bill that probably no one likes.
Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan (D-Fargo) presented her measure — SB 2281 — to the Senate Finance and Tax Committee. Hogan’s bill would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by 25 cents, to 69 cents, as well as raise taxes on cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco, and imposing a tax on vaping products. It would add another 25 cents to pack of cigarettes, bringing that tax to 69 cents.
"These tax increases are not significant tax increases," Hogan told the Committee. "But I think it will make a difference for young people. And that's what we're about."
Hogan said her bill is a public health biil.
Opposition came from the North Dakota Retail Association.
"This bill is the worst of all taxes," Rud told the Committee. "It is a 'sin tax' — a tax that preys on some of the most economically disadvantaged consumers in North Dakota."
Two convenience store owners also objected. They said they diligently ask younger people for their ID cards, and they said many of them actually but tobacco products off the Internet.
Health organizations said the bill doesn’t raise taxes enough.
"I think it is very wise for this state to typically implement incremental changes, so as not to throttle something, and allow people to to adjust to it," said Ben Hanson of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, North Dakota chapter. "But in this case, incremental increases are actually harmful and will back-peddle us."
The committee has delayed action on the measure, because a similar bill with higher tax rates is pending in the House.
