Lawmakers question Cancer Society rep about proposed cig tax hike…

Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, asked the American Cancer Society’s Heidi Low what position Idaho Indian tribes have taken on the cigarette-tax increase bill. Low said they’re neutral.

Barbieri asked whether studies were done to arrive at the $1.25 per pack amount. Low said yes. “We do know there needs to be a significant increase for there to be a decrease in youth consumption,” she said. Though there was support for a $1.50 increase in statewide polling, she said the groups backing the bill settled on $1.25 after analyzing cigarette tax rates in surrounding state.

Other committee questions have sought more detail on the group’s poll, and on the state’s health care costs related to smoking.

Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, said “I’ve had several emails over the last several weeks in opposition to this legislation from convenience store owners … near the borders of surrounding states. They’re talking about significant impacts to their businesses. What have you determined, do you have any information on that impact to those business owners in Idaho?”

Low said the groups backing the bill have studied the impact in other states. In Washington, gross business sales for convenience stores actually rose after a dollar-per-pack cigarette tax increase was imposed there in 2010. A national study, looking at all 50 states over 13 years from 1997 to 2009, found that convenience stores actually did better after cigarette tax hikes. “Convenience store success is based on profit, not sales, so what we’ve seen happen is that when the tax increase is a dollar, the price actually goes up by $1.10, $1.13, so the vendor is actually realizing a … profit” on the increase. Meanwhile, people who quit smoking are “still spending the money,” she said. “They’re still going to the gas station, maybe going in, getting a pop.”