COLUMBUS, Ohio – May 31, 2018 – Today is World No Tobacco Day and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is taking the opportunity to remind Ohio lawmakers it has been 25-years since the tax on other tobacco products (OTP) including flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco, large cigars and hookah has been updated to parallel the tax on cigarettes.
ACS CAN asks Ohio Lawmakers to commit to increasing the tax on these items to a rate equivalent with the tax on cigarettes. Increasing tobacco taxes is one of the proven ways to reduce tobacco use and save many young Ohioans from starting a lifetime of addiction to tobacco products.
“When different types of tobacco products are taxed at different rates, lower-taxed products are cheaper than they would be if all tobacco products were taxed at an equivalent rate,” said Jeff Stephens, Ohio government relations director, ACS CAN. “It is important that equivalent taxes apply to all tobacco products to encourage people to quit rather than switch to a cheaper product as well as to prevent youth from starting to use any tobacco products.”
Some other tobacco products are particularly attractive to youth and demonstrate how the tobacco industry targets the next generation to initiate use of their deadly products.
“ACS CAN calls on our state lawmakers to modernize the public policy around tobacco that will create proven strategies to prevent our youth from initiating a lifelong addiction to tobacco products,” said Stephens. “These products all contain tobacco, they all cause cancers and we should be doing everything we can as a matter of public health to prevent our citizens from starting to use tobacco products. There is no safe tobacco product. It is time the Ohio Legislature step up and increases the tax on these products.”
World No Tobacco Day, May 31, is organized by the World Health Organization to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and to advocate for effective tobacco control policies.
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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