House Panel Nixes Bid To Raise Idaho Cigarette Tax

A House panel rejected a bid to raise Idaho’s cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, with Republicans calling it social engineering.

The Revenue and Taxation Committee’s vote Monday was 11-5, easily defeating the bill sponsored by groups including the American Lung Association.

Reps. Lenore Barrett and Vito Barbieri said cajoling people to quit by boosting a legal product’s cost wasn’t acceptable.

Monday’s hearing was a long time coming.

Democrats sought unsuccessfully last year to win a similar meeting.

But conservative lawmakers’ angst over new taxes easily overpowered counterarguments that thousands fewer teens would pick up the habit, thousands would quit and Idaho would have $50 million in new revenue to help address Medicaid costs from tobacco-related illness.

Idaho’s 57 cent per pack tax is the lowest of its surrounding states.