The issue of increasing West Virginia’s tobacco excise tax is making headlines again as part of the race for Governor. The Charleston Gazette-Mail today printed responses from Democratic candidates on a host of issues, including tobacco taxes, in an article by Alison Knezevich.
According to The Gazette-Mail article:
“West Virginia has the nation’s highest smoking rate. In the past few years, some state lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed to raise the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products in an effort to decrease tobacco usage.
Kessler and Perdue were the only candidates to say they would raise the tobacco tax, which is one of the lowest in the United States.
Kessler said he would use tobacco-tax revenues for health and anti-drug initiatives. Those would include community-based substance abuse programs, expansion of drug courts and day-report centers with random drug testing, and primary health-care centers.
With the state Medicaid rolls set to grow because of federal health-care reform, Perdue said he likely would use the money for that program, which provides health coverage for the poor and disabled.
Other candidates said they would not raise taxes at this time.”
Some may recall that Acting Senate President Jeff Kessler was co-sponsor of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia supported legislation to increase the tobacco tax by one dollar per pack in the 2011 legislative session.
The Primary Election for the unexpired term of Governor will be held on May 14th. You can read all of the answers by the Democratic candidates to the 10 questions posed by The Charleston Gazette here.
Please take the time to learn the candidates positions on the critical issues facing, like tobacco control efforts and health care, and make sure to vote on May 14th!
Recent Comments