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Tag: Washington

  • Opinion: Washington Flavor Laws ‘Kicking the Can Down the Road’

    Opinion: Washington Flavor Laws ‘Kicking the Can Down the Road’

    This week, after previous renditions seemed dead in the water, Washington legislators slipped twin bills into the House and Senate that would impose a statewide flavor ban on tobacco products and add a carbon tax on cigarettes. In an opinion piece for the Tax Foundation, Adam Hoffer and Jacob Macumber-Rosin, both experts in tax policy, compared these schemes to others around the country.

    “A carbon tax on cigarettes is novel, while the idea for a flavor ban is not,” they wrote. “Massachusetts and California have already banned flavored tobacco products in their states, and the experiences have been so negative that the Biden administration backed off its own plan for a nationwide flavor ban.

    “Both Massachusetts and California experienced massive tax revenue declines, incredible growth in illicit market activity, and little to no change in smoking rates. Following its flavor ban in 2020, Massachusetts saw cigarette excise tax revenue decline by more than $100 million and revenue has persisted at the lower level. Unfortunately, fewer legal sales don’t necessarily translate to less consumption. Our previous work identified that about 90% of the reduction in sales in Massachusetts was offset by increases in legal sales in neighboring states. Illicit product seizures and smuggling estimates have skyrocketed.”

    The writers said California fared no better, losing more than $230 million in state cigarette sales and excise taxes since it banned flavors in December 2022. Unlike Massachusetts, however, smokers didn’t turn to neighboring states, they began utilizing illicit and international markets to replace their legal purchases.

    “One study collected details on 15,000 discarded cigarette packs from public trash containers across 10 major California cities in May and June of 2023,” they wrote. “These data showed that 21.1% of the discarded packs were menthol-style cigarettes, a mere 3% drop in menthol market share estimates from before the flavor ban.

    “The same data found foreign and illicit market share spiked. Non-US packs comprised 27.6% of the sample, compared to an estimated foreign market share of only 17% previously.”

    The state’s fiscal analysis predicts a flavor ban would decrease revenues by more than $100 million per year, and the proposed carbon tax would only recoup 1% of that.

    “The justification for applying a carbon tax on top of existing cigarette taxes is weak,” they wrote. “Secondhand smoke certainly harms others nearby who are forced to inhale it, and cigarette smoking releases carbon dioxide, but classifying cigarettes as a broad state-wide pollutant is a stretch.

    “These haphazard policies appear to be part of a ‘try-anything’ effort to close the state’s projected $15 billion budget shortfall. Washington State taxpayers deserve sound fiscal policy reforms that will provide stable, long-run revenue for the government. Narrow-based and patchwork fixes only kick the can down the road to the next set of elected officials.”

  • Washington Lawmakers Take Another Shot at Banning Flavors

    Washington Lawmakers Take Another Shot at Banning Flavors

    Efforts to ban flavored tobacco products in the state of Washington were revived Monday (April 7), as a bill to do so got a House committee hearing after the effort was previously assumed dead. Lawmakers rolled out twin bills aimed at nearly every product that contains tobacco or nicotine.

    House Bill 2068 and its Senate counterpart, SB 5803, call for a statewide ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco and nicotine products (e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, hookah, cigars, menthols, nicotine pouches, and menthol cigarettes). They also call for an extra $2 in tax on every pack of cigarettes. If passed, Washington would leap into the top tier of states with the highest cigarette taxes, going from $3.025 per pack to $5.025. The tax would be tied to inflation and adjusted every three years to keep pace with rising costs. Other tobacco and vapor products, including alternative nicotine options like nicotine pouches, would also see steep tax hikes, up to 95% of the product’s taxable sales price.

    “These products don’t contribute to the social well-being of our communities,” said Rep. Kristine Reeves, the bill’s main sponsor. “They definitely don’t contribute to the health and well-being of our children. And I would love for you to join me in helping find a path forward to make sure that the next generation is not getting hooked on tobacco.”

    Reeves pushed similar restrictions in another bill this session which failed to move forward.

  • Washington: State Lawmakers Want to Increase Taxes and Ban Products

    Washington: State Lawmakers Want to Increase Taxes and Ban Products

    Democratic lawmakers in the state of Washington have revamped their approach to banning flavored tobacco products and combined it with an increase in cigarette taxes. The new legislation, House Bill 2068, revives the ambitious and controversial prohibition that made little progress in the state so far this year.

    The initial proposal banned flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine products beginning 90 days after the legislative session ends. The new ban, however, would begin July 1, 2027, allowing the state to continue collecting tax revenue for a budget that is predicted to have a $16 billion deficit over the next four years.

    Critics of such bans argue they lead to increased cigarette use as consumers look for alternatives, and that people who’ve turned to electronic cigarettes to quit smoking traditional cigarettes would no longer have flavored options. 

    Also in the new bill, according to Jake Goldstein-Street writing for the Washington Standard, the age to purchase nicotine pouches would be raised to 21 and “a $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes would be added that would rise with inflation. The first $5 million from the new tax would go toward preventing youth tobacco and vape use, while the rest would go into the state’s general fund.” Washington smokers already face one of the nation’s highest state cigarette taxes, totaling $3.77 between excise and sales taxes, he said. The tax new provisions would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

  • Washington: More Tax Hikes Proposed

    Washington: More Tax Hikes Proposed

    On January 20, the state of Washington saw two bills proposed, House Bill 1416 and House Bill 1417, that would further hike the state’s higher-than-average tobacco taxes. We reported that the two bills would add an additional 33 cents of taxes per pack of cigarettes (currently based at $4.035 before any local sales taxes), and that “existing taxes on most vape juices, cigars, and other products would be raised.”

    Writing for Halfwheel, Patrick Lagreid dug into the actual increases on several nicotinereu products. Washington has a tax rate of 95% of the taxable sales price, maintaining a cap on the maximum tax that can be charged. Lagreid said the cap on premium cigars would be raised from 65 cents to 72 cents.

    “The bill also raises the tax on vapor products from 27 cents to 30 cents per milliliter of solution, while what are described as ‘accessible containers of solution’ will go from nine cents to 10 cents per milliliter, regardless of whether or not they contain nicotine,” he wrote. “Moist snuff would also see an increase, going from $2.526 to $2.776 per package of 1.2 ounces or less, though there is a provision that the tax must be at least that amount or 83.5% of the cigarette tax.”

    The bills were proposed by Rep. Kristine Reeves and referred to the House Committee on Finance for initial rounds of debate. If passed as written, the increases would go into effect October 1.

  • Washington State Wants High Taxes Higher

    Washington State Wants High Taxes Higher

    The state of Washington saw two bills proposed this week that would further hike the state’s higher-than-average tobacco taxes. Rep. Kristine Reeves proposed House Bill 1416 and House Bill 1417 with a number of other Democrat cosponsors. Both measures impose additional taxes on those already in place for tobacco products. 

    HB 1416 imposes a new $0.015 per cigarette tax, about 30 cents for a standard pack. It also raises existing taxes on most vape juices, cigars, and other products. HB 1417 imposes a new $0.0015 per cigarette “embodied carbon tax,” about 3 cents a pack.

    These proposals are in addition to the taxes already in place, including $3.025 tax per pack from the state, $1.01 per pack federal, and other local sales taxes. Reeves also wants to ban flavored tobacco products.

    Because Washington has some of the nation’s highest tax rates on nicotine products, it, according to the Tax Foundation, also has some of the highest smuggling and counterfeit rates, costing the state an estimated $178.8 million in revenue. 

    According to HB 1416, revenue from vape products would be split evenly between cancer research and public health services, however, revenue from other taxed products would go directly to the general fund. The revenue from HB 1417 would go to the general fund and would be earmarked to “counteract carbon emissions,” but the bill does not explain how that would work. Coincidentally, both proposals come as the state anticipates a revenue shortfall between $10 billion and $16 billion over the next four years.