MINNEAPOLIS -- Last year, Vermont was the only state that passed a cigarette tax increase by enacting a 13-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike, and this year, Vermont has become the first—and so far only—state to raise cigarette and tobacco tax rates.
Before the Vermont legislature adjourned on May 16, lawmakers passed a couple of different tobacco-related bills including a cigarette and little cigar tax increase of 33 cents per pack, with the new rate to be $3.08 per pack and an increase in the moist snuff tax rates equal to the greater of $2.57 per ounce or $3.08 per package.
Both of these tax increases will be effective as of July 1, 2015. At the same time, the Vermont legislature did not change the state’s cigar tax rate or the tax rate on other tobacco products nor did lawmakers pass a bill that would have levied a 92% excise tax on electronic cigarettes.
While 25 other state legislatures have considered bills to raise the cigarette or tobacco product tax rate, so far this year, bills have either died or failed in 11 states including Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Cigarette or OTP tax increase bills in 14 states are still pending and include Alabama, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington.
To date, 21 state legislatures have adjourned for the year—these states include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Many of the remaining state legislatures that are still in session are in the final stages of their respective 2015 legislative sessions and most will be adjourned by the end of June.
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