Governments levy taxes to pay for community services, such as schools, police and road repairs. And to help pay the public treasury costs of what can be unhealthy personal choices, such as excessive alcohol consumption and smoking.
The state and federal governments pick up a large share of the expense of treating smoking-related illnesses, alcohol abuse and responding to alcohol-related crimes, and targeted taxes can help cover those bills.
In addition, research has shown that adding taxes to cigarettes discourages consumption.
Cigarette smoking among Alaska teens has declined drastically since the 1990s, from 37% in 1995 to 8% in 2019, according to a report released last month by the Alaska Department of Health. The state tax increased to $1 a pack in 1997, then $2 a pack in 2007.
But while cigarette use among Alaska teens is in decline, vaping, which is untaxed by the state, is up significantly. Slightly more than one-quarter of surveyed high schoolers reported using electronic cigarettes in the past 30 days, the report said. That is up from 18% in 2015. Not a healthy direction.
“We have found that, over the years, whenever we’ve increased the tobacco tax … the usage has declined,” said Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens, who sponsored last year’s attempt to extend the state’s tobacco tax to e-cigarette products.
Which is a good reason for the Alaska Legislature to try again this year to levy a tax on e-cigarette products, such as vaping sticks and the liquids that deliver nicotine to e-cigs — which is exactly what Stevens plans to do.
Lawmakers succeeded last year in passing a bill to impose a tax on vaping products, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the measure. Despite House and Senate members approving the bill by a combined 49-11 tally, the governor blocked it from becoming law.
“A tax increase on the people of Alaska is not something I can support,” Dunleavy said in his veto message in October.
The bill started out in the Senate as a 75% tax on the wholesale price of e-cig products, the same tax rate as the state collects on cigars and loose tobacco, but it was whittled down to 45% and then later in the House to a 35% wholesale tax in order to win more support. That would have added maybe $1 or $2 to the cost of a vape stick, comparable to the state’s $2 tax on a pack of cigarettes. But even that was too much for the anti-tax governor in an election year.
Which begs the question: How much of a tax would the governor support, if any? Or is he content to let teens and others puff away tax-free?
“Honestly, we really need to address this issue,” Stevens told a reporter last week.
He is right. A tax could help reverse the growth in teen vaping, while also providing funds for anti-tobacco campaigns. Let’s hope the governor doesn’t snuff out this year’s legislation.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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