Harrisburg, PA – June 30, 2017 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network opposes House Bill 1477 which would lower the tax on e-cigarettes from 40 percent of the wholesale price to a 5 cents/mL tax and would exclude these products from the definition of tobacco products and exclude them from proven tobacco control policies.
“Maintaining the new tax on e-cigarettes at 40 percent of wholesale will discourage youth from using these products,” said Diane Phillips, government relations director. “Furthermore, other jurisdictions have higher e-cigarette taxes than Pennsylvania, with Minnesota taxing e-cigarettes at 95 percent of wholesale and DC taxing them at 65 percent of wholesale.”
Pennsylvania chose kids over the tobacco industry by voting for tobacco tax increases as part of the FY 2016-2017 revenue package. A first-time tax on smokeless and roll-your-own tobacco products and a tax on e-cigarettes at 40 percent of the wholesale price, took effect in 2016 alongside the $1.00 per pack increase in the tax on cigarettes. Together these taxes are saving lives and generating much-needed revenue for the commonwealth.
We urge the legislature to support the tobacco tax package as passed in July 2016 by opposing efforts to alter the revenue package, change product definitions or lower the price of any tobacco products including e-cigarettes.
About ACS CAN
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
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