Indiana Taxes

[englishmick]

I saw this on TV today so I don't have a link.

The State republican party is planning to introduce legislation to increase the tax on cigs by $1 a pack, along with an increase in gas tax, the purpose being to pay for road repair. I couldn't find any reference to this tax being applied to vaping, but since they now have vaping corralled to where it would be easier to tax I have a feeling that's likely to happen.

If it does go into debate with a tax on vaping included it could give us a clue to where the States are looking to go.

Republican Governor Pence and the democratic pols are opposing this bill. Pence on the grounds of not increasing taxes, the democrats on the grounds of it being a retrogressive tax. At least that's what Pence gave as his reason. The commentators quoted the democrat's reason.

None of the talking heads were willing to opine on which side would prevail.

 

[Sir Kadly]

I find it fascinating that Pence and the dems are on the same side on this tax. Incidentally, I am not aware of any current plan to include vaping, but I think there was previous legislation that never made it to a vote during the last session that would have raised taxes on juices. I have not yet heard of any such proposals planned for this session, but...

 

[sofarsogood]

Tobacco taxes are regressive. Low income people are over represented among smokers and when kids smoke it comes out of family income too. There needs to be some economic modeling of what would happen if everybody stopped smoking. A lot of things would change. My hunch is a state's economy would improve overall, even in the short run. On a household level it's a slam dunk. A carton a week cost me $3,000 a year. The cost of ingredients for a year supply of home made e liquid is $30. That's a significant impact on any household. The primary beneficiaries would be the kids, more money to spend on them. May be there are a few rational minds in these State governments.

Fiscal conservaties who want lower taxes and less government should love ecigs. If everybody stopped smoking it would be the mother of all tax cuts and the people who saved the money would be the ones who need it the most.

 

[Rossum]

Tobacco taxes are regressive.

Of course they are, but do you really believe that this matters to the ruling political caste?

 

[sofarsogood]

Of course they are, but do you really believe that this matters to the ruling political caste?

They are not a monolith, otherwise ecigs would be banned already. There are people who aren't lying hypocrites, who actually would like to see everybody stop smoking, even if tax revenues decline. Are there enough of them to make a difference? The other thing that helps our cause is ecig taxes are small potatoes, a few million dollars? The true reason for ecig regulations and taxes is to protect tobacco taxes but it's hard to make that argument in polite company.