{"id":800340,"date":"2019-10-13T19:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T01:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=372868"},"modified":"2019-10-13T19:00:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T01:00:19","slug":"ballot-measure-1a-voters-get-a-say-in-raising-taxes-on-nicotine-and-tobacco-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/ballot-measure-1a-voters-get-a-say-in-raising-taxes-on-nicotine-and-tobacco-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballot Measure 1A: Voters get a say in raising taxes on nicotine and tobacco products"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"A
A display of vaping products is available on the counter at one of Frisco’s local shops, Smok N Bra, on Wednesday, Aug. 14. <\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Over the past several months, the county\u2019s governments have been taking steps to try and curb the amount of nicotine and tobacco usage among community members, including increasing the minimum age to purchase the products and developing new licensing requirements for retailers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one more initiative that county officials are hoping
\nto pass to further dissuade smoking and vaping, but this time it\u2019s the voters
\nthat get to decide.<\/p>\n

Election Day is quickly approaching, and community members
\nwill get a chance to vote on whether or not Summit County adopts new taxes on
\nall nicotine and tobacco products. The proposal, known as Measure 1A, came
\ntogether as a result of months of collaboration between the county\u2019s government
\nentities \u2014 particularly the county\u2019s public health department and area high
\nschool students who composed the Youth Empowerment Society of Summit that lead
\nthe push.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well aware of just how great nicotine and tobacco are as threats to public health,\u201d said Summit County Commissioner Thomas Davidson. \u201cIt\u2019s the number one cause of what we term preventable death in America. \u2026 So one of the most important things that we should do as a department that\u2019s responsible for the public health of our population is to try and get our community, particularly our youth, to make healthy choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

If approved by voters, the measure would impose a
\n$4-per-pack sales tax on cigarettes, along with a 40% tax on all other tobacco
\nand nicotine products \u2014 including e-cigarettes and vaping devices \u2014 that would
\nstart in January, and increase 10% annually for four years.<\/p>\n

The proposal comes as a result of House Bill 19-1033, which
\nwas signed into law at the state legislature earlier this year allowing local
\ngovernments to self-regulate tobacco and nicotine sales.<\/p>\n

County officials jumped at the chance, hoping to take immediate action to combat the rapid growth in nicotine usage in the county\u2019s youth. According to the 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey \u2014 conducted every two years by the Colorado Department of Public Health \u2014 Summit High School students reported increases in both cigarette and e-cigarette usage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a pressing, urgent issue,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost spread like wildfire within the last few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, 16.2% of the students reported ever smoking a
\ncigarette, up from 4.7% in 2015. More than 40% of students reported using an
\ne-cigarette or vaping device in the last 30 days, up from 26% in 2015, and
\nconsiderably higher than the state rate of 27%. The survey also showed that
\nmore than 73% of students thought it was easy to obtain vaping products.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids are especially sensitive to price increases in tobacco and nicotine products, so this tax is one of the most effective strategies available to prevent youth use,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cAccording to the U.S. Surgeon General, vaping by American teenagers has reached epidemic levels, and Colorado has the highest teen vaping rate in the nation. We urgently need to take action if we\u2019re going to keep the next generation from getting hooked on nicotine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The taxes are meant to be sufficient enough to dissuade people from purchasing nicotine and tobacco products. The county is loosely expecting about $3.8 million in revenue in the first year, though given a lack of reliable data on current tobacco and nicotine product sales in the county, that number serves only as the county\u2019s best estimation.<\/p>\n

Through an intergovernmental agreement between the county and towns, each jurisdiction will have control over its share of the new revenues if the tax passes. Though, Davidson noted that each government has committed to prioritize the revenue to help fund cessation, prevention and reduction programs around the county \u2014 along with broader health initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the IGA there\u2019s an agreement to meet annually to plan
\nwhat we\u2019re doing with those revenues,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cThat\u2019s where you\u2019ll see
\nthe funding for prevention and cessation programs coming from. After that, each
\njurisdiction has broadly committed to using additional revenues for health
\npurposes. For example, the towns that have recreation centers can use funding
\nthere. You\u2019re also going to see the towns and county focused on some additional
\nrevenues that may be pointed to our nonprofits involved in health related
\nprograms. \u2026 Each will have the ability to look at their community specifically
\nand determine how those additional revenues get directed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the tax may help to make a difference in reducing the county\u2019s nicotine and tobacco use, not everyone is on board, with some smokers and business owners speaking out against the measure.<\/p>\n

Some felt that the proposed tax would have minimal affects
\nin mitigating smoking and vaping, or felt the tax was unfairly targeting
\ntobacco and nicotine users.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be kind of a rip off,\u201d said Ste-V Day, owner of Smoke N\u2019 Bra in Frisco that sells e-liquids. \u201cI think people will just go back to cigarettes. Vaporizers are already expensive, so if you\u2019re making the juices more expensive people are just going to say, \u2018I can spend $25 on a thing of e-juice or a few bucks on a pack of cigarettes.\u2019 Either way they\u2019re going to find something more affordable for them. Smokers are going to smoke no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day noted that the tax likely wouldn\u2019t make a huge impact on
\nher business, and said she\u2019d probably just stop selling any nicotine products
\nif the tax passes. Other business owners, particularly those whose sales
\nlargely rely on tobacco and nicotine, are more concerned with the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be crazy,\u201d said John Cutroneo, owner of Slope Side
\nCigars in Breckenridge. \u201cI\u2019d be paying way more in taxes than I pay myself.
\nUltimately everything else that they\u2019re taxing \u2014 things that are daily habits
\nthat should be broken \u2014 I can agree with that. But a 40% tax on cigars will put
\nme out of business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a severe tax. The age increase and the
\nadditional license fee, even though those don\u2019t seem like a big deal, hurt
\nbusiness a bit. But the tax is what will crush it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others called the proposed tax prejudiced and unfair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a smoker and I don\u2019t like it,\u201d said Susan Parks. \u201cNone of us like it. I consider it discrimination against smokers. All they\u2019re doing is nitpicking against smokers. Why are they not raising taxes for alcohol? If you\u2019re going to be fair, be fair, but I don\u2019t understand why they\u2019re just picking on the tobacco smokers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, county officials feel the tax would make a big
\ndifference in improving the community\u2019s overall health, and ultimately would
\nserve the greater good.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us want to demonize a person addicted to nicotine,\u201d
\nDavidson said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most addictive substances out there. I know
\nthat I\u2019ve seen comments where people feel like we\u2019re putting a target on their
\nback. I think there\u2019s a commitment that we\u2019ll be compassionate as we provide
\nprograms. But I think that we, in conclusion, felt compelled that we\u2019re really
\ngoing to move the needle with the measure and the level of taxation we\u2019re
\nplacing. And after the analysis was done we felt justified in asking voters for
\napproval in the levels we\u2019re asking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision at the end of the day was what\u2019s best for the greatest number? And what\u2019s best is to implement a tax scheme that makes the product expensive, because there\u2019s so much evidence-based research that shows it\u2019s an affective way to reduce use.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A display of vaping products is available on the counter at one of Frisco’s local shops, Smok N Bra, on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com FRISCO \u2014 Over the past several months, the county\u2019s governments have been taking steps to try and curb the amount of nicotine and tobacco usage among community members, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 09:14:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}