The chair of Kentucky’s Senate Health and Welfare Committee envisions the fast approaching general assembly session as an opportunity to change in the state’s tobacco product policies. Additional taxes on cigarettes is one possibility.
Health advocates are expected to push hard for a one dollar increase in the state’s cigarette tax. Louisville Senator and committee chair Julia Racque Adams says health care is a huge cost driver for the state’s two year budget. She says some proponents of a much higher cigarette tax view it as a user fee. “The reality is that our costs associated with smoking are dramatic. They are a cost to taxpayers that can no longer be ignored,” said Racque-Adams.
Racque-Adams says the one dollar tax hike is estimated to generate an additional $266 million. State lawmakers are also likely to see legislation calling for a statewide smoke free policy for public places.
