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Committee hears split testimony on bill to raise cigarette and nicotine taxes, restore public-health funding
Summary
House Finance heard detailed staff and sponsor briefings on SB 61-29, which would raise the cigarette tax to $5 a pack, impose a 95% tax on nicotine products by price, and direct up to $10 million a year to youth prevention; public-health groups supported the bill while retailers and some industry groups warned of regressivity and illicit-market risks.
Senators and staff told the House Finance Committee on March 4 that engrossed substitute Senate Bill 61-29 would raise taxes on cigarettes and other nicotine products and realign revenue to public-health accounts.
Rochelle Harris, committee staff, outlined the mechanics: the bill adds an additional cigarette tax of 9.8575¢ per cigarette — raising the tax to a $5 pack of 20 effective Jan. 1, 2028 — and, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, replaces the existing per-milliliter and OTP rates with a single tax set at 95% of the taxable selling price for products containing nicotine or a nicotine analog. The measure also caps and redistributes vapor-product revenue among the Andy Hill Cancer Research account and the Foundational Public Health Services account, and sets aside the first $10,000,000 from the new cigarette tax each fiscal year for a…
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