(NETWORK INDIANA) Hoosiers support a cigarette tax hike.
Christine Matthews, President of Bellwether Research, looked into why that’s the case. “In our December statewide poll, seven in ten voters supported a $2 per pack increase in the price of cigarettes,” Matthews said. Right now, Indiana smokers pay just under $1 per pack in taxes. She says a tax on smoking isn’t generally viewed as a tax. “79% say that a cigarette tax increase is more of a user fee than a traditional tax increase,” Matthews said.
A portion of the money raised from the tax hike would go to tobacco prevention programs. A bill to raise the cigarette tax is expected to be proposed in the statehouse in the next few days. The Alliance for a Healthier Indiana says Indiana ranks 41st in worst percentage of smokers and tobacco use costs Indiana about $6 billion per year. That same organization says second hand smoke costs $2.1 billion in excess medical expenses and premature loss of life.