Bill advances to raise cigarette tax, smoking age

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Published: Thursday, 02 February 2017 22:37

INDIANAPOLIS — Lawmakers are looking into a bill that would raise the cigarette tax and legal smoking age as a way to curb the state’s tobacco habit.

Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove, speaks at the Raise It For Heath rally Wednesday about her bill that would raise the cigarette tax up to $2.49 depending on the size of the product. Kirchhofer said the tax increase would boost the state’s revenue, but she hopes it will discourage people from using tobacco products. Photo by Andi TenBarge, TheStatehouseFile.com

The author of House Bill 1578, Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove, said the measure aims to:

• Raise the cigarette tax up to $2.49 depending on the size of the pack
• Raise the legal smoking age of 18 to 21
• Repeals employment protections for individuals who smoke or use tobacco products
• Appropriates $35 million from tobacco master settlement fund to the tobacco use prevention trust fund for Indiana State Department of Health

The Raise It For Health Indiana group argues increasing the cigarette tax would temporarily boost the state’s revenue and discourage tobacco use.

“The tax revenue for the state will go down because our ultimate goal is to eliminate tobacco use and then we’re going to encourage more health activities in your daily life,” Kirchhofer said during a Raise It For Health rally Wednesday.

Rep. Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, proposed a change during the House Public Health Committee meeting to use the cigarette tax revenue dollars to create a new health care fund.

This comes after the House in 2016 included raising the cigarette tax as part of its transportation funding bill. The measure made it through the House but failed in the Senate.

Shelby Medley, a senior at Western Boone High School, spoke at the Raise it For Health Rally about her experience educating her peers about the consequences of using tobacco products. Medley said she became passionate about the cause after she noticed classmates using the products on school grounds. Photo by Andi TenBarge, TheStatehouseFile.com

Scot Imus with the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association argued in the raising the cigarette tax would cause buyers to travel to other states to buy to tobacco products.

“Not only would we lose out of state customers, we would also lose Hoosier customers,” Imus said in the House Public Health Committee. “The significant despair between the Indiana tax rate and those of our neighboring states would mean that border stores would close.”

The bill passed out of committee 11-0 and now heads to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Article writer Andi TenBarge is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news sit powered by Franklin College journalism students.