Monday, February 26, 2007
Timing may be right for state to institute tax on snuff, cigars
Timing may be right for state to institute tax on snuff, cigars: "Kentucky, North Carolina and the rest of Appalachia's tobacco-rich states collect an excise tax on chew, snuff and cigars. With just a few exceptions, so does the rest of the country.
Not so in Pennsylvania, where an eclectic but effective mix of politicians, lobbyists and tobacco farmers has been able to block it for two decades.
Gov. Ed Rendell says he wants to change that. He's proposing an excise tax -- on top of the existing sales tax -- at a rate of 36 cents per ounce of smokeless tobacco and roughly 3.6 cents per cigar. It's part of his 'Prescription for Pennsylvania' plan to raise $151 million to improve health care.
It would seem that the Democratic governor's timing is right. Former legislative powerhouses like Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver Falls, known for his after-hours cigar sessions, and Sens. Chip Brightbill of Lebanon County and Noah Wenger of Lancaster County, who helped to scotch plans to collect a tobacco excise tax in the past, no longer roam the Capitol halls as lawmakers."
Not so in Pennsylvania, where an eclectic but effective mix of politicians, lobbyists and tobacco farmers has been able to block it for two decades.
Gov. Ed Rendell says he wants to change that. He's proposing an excise tax -- on top of the existing sales tax -- at a rate of 36 cents per ounce of smokeless tobacco and roughly 3.6 cents per cigar. It's part of his 'Prescription for Pennsylvania' plan to raise $151 million to improve health care.
It would seem that the Democratic governor's timing is right. Former legislative powerhouses like Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver Falls, known for his after-hours cigar sessions, and Sens. Chip Brightbill of Lebanon County and Noah Wenger of Lancaster County, who helped to scotch plans to collect a tobacco excise tax in the past, no longer roam the Capitol halls as lawmakers."
Labels: cigars, PA Politics
