Legislators have taken the first step toward doubling Indiana’s cigarette tax, but the proposal has a long way to go. The House Public Health Committee voted 8-3 to double the tax to two dollars a pack, the first increase in 14 years. The bill also increases the tax of e-cigarettes for the first time at $1.56 for a two-pod package. A preliminary estimate projects the increase would bring in 278-million dollars. The committee had put off a vote Monday to draft language specifying 40-percent of the money raised — an estimated 112-million dollars — would go to Medicaid. Crown Point Republican Julie Olthoff, the bill’s author, says smoking-related health problems cost Medicaid more than five times that much. Even if the full House passes it, the bill faces a tougher climb in the Senate. In the last five years, senators have killed three bills to either raise the cigarette tax or tax e-cigarettes.
