Georgia
Bill to increase Georgia cigarette tax stalls in House committee
Payments to up Georgia’s tax on cigarettes, vaping merchandise might not go
It seems payments launched to extend Georgia’s tax on cigarettes and vaping merchandise might not transfer ahead this session. Traditionally talking, Georgia has not raised its tobacco tax because the early 2000s when Sonny Perdue was nonetheless governor.
ATLANTA – Two payments geared toward rising state excise taxes on cigarettes and vaping merchandise have probably died for this session on the state Capitol.
State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, sponsored each payments and stated he had two foremost objectives to assist offset among the state’s medical prices and to scale back the variety of Georgians smoking.
“They trigger most cancers, lung illness, coronary heart illness and on and on and on,” stated Rep. Stephens, who misplaced his personal father to lung most cancers.
Presently, Georgia has one of many lowest taxes on cigarettes within the nation at simply 37 cents per pack. Beneath Rep. Stephens’ invoice, that may go as much as 57 cents per pack, the identical fee as South Carolina. The typical state cigarette tax is $1.91 per pack.
Rep. Stephens stated elevating the cigarette tax would generate about $90 million yearly for the state, which might assist offset among the practically $700 million Georgia pays in Medicaid prices for smoking-related diseases.
“Most significantly, as the value goes up, consumption goes down, all people’s well being is best,” Rep. Stephens defined.
Rep. Stephens additionally filed laws to extend the tax on vaping merchandise from 5 cents per fluid milliliter to fifteen%.
Members of the Home Tax Revision Subcommittee, nonetheless, have been fast to extinguish the payments at a listening to Feb. 22.
“That is nothing greater than a tax on the poor the way in which I see it. And I do not know when as a rustic or when as a authorities we wish to penalize any individual for freedom that they bought and I believed that is what this nation was constructed on,” stated state Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth.
In response, Rep. Stephens drafted a invoice to take away all excise taxes from cigarettes in Georgia.
“You already know, we’re Republicans. We do not like to lift taxes, so among the members that had questions in opposition to elevating the tax, this takes it to zero,” stated Rep. Stephens. “It will make us the bottom within the nation. The one strategy to make us any decrease is that if we paid individuals to smoke.”
To this point, Rep. Stephens stated he has not had any lawmakers provide to sponsor that laws.