Post by Logan on Mar 17, 2016 4:35:16 GMT -6
ND ballot measure would boost tax on pack of cigarettes by $1.76
BISMARCK – A group frustrated with the North Dakota Legislature’s repeated refusal to raise tobacco taxes will attempt to put the issue to voters in November, announcing a ballot initiative Wednesday that would hike the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.76.
The measure also would increase the tax on other tobacco products, including liquid nicotine used in electronic cigarettes, from 28 percent to 56 percent of the wholesale purchase price.
Backers will need to gather 13,452 signatures by July 11 to place the initiated measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. They submitted the petition Wednesday afternoon to Secretary of State Al Jaeger, whose office has until March 28 to approve it for circulation.
Dr. Eric Johnson, a Grand Forks physician and chairman of the measure’s 30-member sponsoring committee, estimated that the higher tax would reduce youth smoking by 20 percent, preventing 5,800 youths from ever starting smoking.
Read more: www.inforum.com/news/3988189-nd-ballot-measure-would-boost-tax-pack-cigarettes-176
BISMARCK – A group frustrated with the North Dakota Legislature’s repeated refusal to raise tobacco taxes will attempt to put the issue to voters in November, announcing a ballot initiative Wednesday that would hike the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.76.
The measure also would increase the tax on other tobacco products, including liquid nicotine used in electronic cigarettes, from 28 percent to 56 percent of the wholesale purchase price.
Backers will need to gather 13,452 signatures by July 11 to place the initiated measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. They submitted the petition Wednesday afternoon to Secretary of State Al Jaeger, whose office has until March 28 to approve it for circulation.
Dr. Eric Johnson, a Grand Forks physician and chairman of the measure’s 30-member sponsoring committee, estimated that the higher tax would reduce youth smoking by 20 percent, preventing 5,800 youths from ever starting smoking.
Read more: www.inforum.com/news/3988189-nd-ballot-measure-would-boost-tax-pack-cigarettes-176