Ohio Attempting to raise Tobacco Taxes.

[Cigar_Jack]

Ohio Tobacco Taxes Going Up

I went into my local Tinder Box and the lovely young woman behind the counter handed me a petition as I paid for my cigars. This petition is for Ohio House Bill 66, which is currently sitting on the desk of the Ohio Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. They want to raise the tobacco tax from 17% to 30%. This will drive many people to purchase online from other states and even overseas, or cross over into Kentucky, which only taxes cigars by 3%. Here is the information from HB 66 that pertains to tobacco taxes:

Sec. 5743.51. (A) To provide revenue for the general revenue fund of the state, an excise tax on tobacco products is hereby levied at the rate of thirty per cent of the wholesale price of the tobacco product received by a distributor or sold by a manufacturer to a retail dealer located in this state. Each distributor who brings tobacco products, or causes tobacco products to be brought, into this state for distribution within this state, or any out-of-state distributor who sells tobacco products to wholesale or retail dealers located in this state for resale by those wholesale or retail dealers is liable for the tax imposed by this section. Only one sale of the same article shall be used in computing the amount of the tax due.

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Entire text of HB 66 can be found here. (PDF format)

This is the Main Operating Budget for 2006-2007 so it has an extremely good chance of passing. So please call, fax, write or email their Senators and ask them to amend this bill and not raise taxes on tobacco products. This drastic of a rise in tobacco taxes will harm cigar retailers in Ohio especially the Cincinnati area which already has to compete with the lower taxes in Kentucky.

The Senate Finance Committee will be hearing this bill the week of May 16, 2005. You can find you Senators by entering your zip code here. I will keep everyone posted regarding this bill as news changes.

Anyone in Ohio or running a tobacco related website please feel free to link or copy this text but I ask that you do link back to my site.

 

[The Prince]

It sucks, but totally expected. It's a fad I fear will run a long course.

 

[Cigar_Jack]

Already emailed my Senator and will call them tomorrow and Monday.

 

[The Prince]

Good job. Now If we can just get everyone In Ohio to do the same.

 

[Cigar_Jack]

That's why I'm posting this around an emailing it everywhere. Going to distribute a flyer Tuesday at the Weekly Cincinnati Herf.

 

[sunivy]

Yep, tobacco and alcohol seem to always take the tax hike hit when faced with a budget shortfall. Obviously, because these are so "evil." My local shops have gotten so expensive (which may not be entirely due to tax rates) that I rarely even frequent them (among other reasons :eyebrow: ). As far as alcohol, it probably does generate additional revenue as it's a much harder commodity to buy online or from a distant source. But for tobacco, I think the opposite true. They'll probably end up losing revenue because people will look for alternate sources.