No Higher Cig Taxes This Session

(

AP)  A House panel rejected a bid to raise Idaho's cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, with Republicans  calling it social engineering. The Revenue and Taxation Committee's vote Monday was 11-5, easily defeating the bill sponsored by groups including the American Lung Association. Reps. Lenore Barrett and Vito Barbieri said cajoling people to quit by boosting a legal product's cost wasn't acceptable.
Monday's hearing was a long time coming. Democrats sought unsuccessfully last year to win a similar
meeting. But conservative lawmakers' angst over new taxes easily overpowered counterarguments that thousands fewer teens would pick up the habit, thousands would quit and Idaho would have $50 million in new revenue to help address Medicaid costs from tobacco-related illness. Idaho's 57 cent per pack tax is the lowest of its surrounding states.