Kasich proposes cigarette tax hike

Among Gov. Kasich’s Mid-Biennium Review proposals unveiled this week is one to increase the state’s tax on cigarettes by 60 cents, to $1.85 per pack and taxing other tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, at an equivalent rate (Source: “Kasich wants to hike tobacco, other taxes to pay for income-tax cut,” Columbus Dispatch, March 12, 2014). 

As part of his plan to cut the state income tax by 8.5 percent, Kasich proposed increasing the cigarette tax by 60 cents over two years to $1.85 per pack. He also would increase the tax on other tobacco products from 17 percent of the wholesale price to 49 percent, and apply that tax for the first time to e-cigarettes.

Kasich also placed the e-cigarette industry into the definition of “tobacco products” — a move that anti-smoking advocates unsuccessfully pushed as part of a recent bill to ban sales of e-cigarettes to minors. Some promote the products as less harmful than typical cigarettes, sparking an ongoing debate over whether they should be taxed the same.