Utah Republicans Support Tax Increase on Tobacco

Feb 15, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

Republican Lawmaker Proposes Boosting Cigarette Tax by 50 cents

(KCPW News) Increasing the tax on tobacco has the support of Utah's otherwise fiscally conservative Republicans, according to a poll released Thursday by the American Heart Association. Representative Paul Ray is banking on this support to pass a measure nearly doubling the state's tobacco tax.

                                           

"You know, I'm not worried about a backlash," Ray says, "because my constituents elected me to do a job. And my job is to oversee taxpayer money."

The Davis County Republican says increasing the tobacco tax will reduce the number of smokers in Utah and therefore save the state money. Ray says the tax increase is kind of like a tax break on Medicaid spending. Ray says tobacco related illnesses cost the state about $104 million each year in Medicaid spending - about $535 per household.

"I think as an elected official my job is to say we're not going to subsidize smoking, that we want to put the money back to the taxpayer," Ray says. "This is a user-fee for those who smoke tobacco. We're going to make them prepay for some of the health care that they're going to get because they smoke cigarettes."

HB 355 adds 50-cents to the state's current 69.5-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes. Revenue from the tax increase would go toward smoking prevention programs and cancer research. Ray says he has the support of his constituents. In fact, the American Heart Association says 8 out of 10 voters would support the tax hike - including 84 percent of Utah Republicans. But Ray says he still has to work on his colleagues in the Legislature. With the session nearly half-over, the bill is still in the Rules Committee, pending a hearing in both the House and Senate.

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