Josephs: Taxing other tobacco products, gas extraction good ideas

HARRISBURG, Oct. 2 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., added her support to legislation the House approved today that would tax cigars, and pipe and smokeless tobacco for the first time in Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that does not tax cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff and chaw," Josephs said. "The bill we passed today will end this distinction. It also provides the added benefit of making children less likely to purchase tobacco products because of the extra expense resulting from the tax."

The House passed H.B. 1531 today after amending it to include a 30 percent tax on smokeless and other tobacco products, as well as an increase in the cigarette tax by 25 cents per pack. The amended bill also would implement a severance tax on the natural gas extracted from the state's Marcellus shale formation. Both the tobacco and gas severance taxes were proposed by House Democrats to help balance the state budget after they rejected a plan to tax the arts and lease state forest land for gas drilling to help fill a $3.2 billion deficit in the proposed 2009-10 state fiscal plan.

"Taxing tobacco is a much more favorable revenue stream than taxing the arts and other cultural activities, or the proceeds from small games of chance, which hurt our local firefighters," she said.

Josephs said that only Texas sells more snuff than Pennsylvania; in 2007, Pennsylvania sold 59 million cans of moist smokeless snuff. Tobacco consumption, most notably non-cigarette tobacco use, is one of the fastest-growing detrimental health habits in the state, she said, which is why she has proposed legislation the last several years to tax all tobacco products.

"It appears that it is an idea whose time has come, as has expecting companies who drill for natural gas on our state lands to share its bounty with Pennsylvania."

Josephs said the original leasing idea would have opened up more land to drilling that could ravage and disrupt the ecosystem, while a severance tax would tax the profits made from our natural resources.

"We've always known that this budget would be difficult and cuts would have to be made, but no Democrat liked helping big business at the expense of our state forests or hurting the little guys. I encourage the Senate to consider and approve these proposals so that a final budget package can be reached for the good of all Pennsylvanians," Josephs said.