Under the guise of “protecting the children,” Maine lawmakers are trying to ban the sale of flavored tobacco and steamed products. While protecting children from the harm caused by adult products is laudable, this ban effectively penalizes adults for the failure of poorly implemented and underfunded tobacco control programs. Worse, Maine will lose millions (if not billions) of dollars in the long run to tobacco revenue that would otherwise help fund these tobacco control programs.
The bill sponsor claims the legislation is monumental and that lawmakers have “examined few other bills together that have the potential to have such a significant impact on the health of children and communities in Maine”.
Unfortunately, there are a multitude of other ways Maine lawmakers can address the use of age-restricted products by teenagers. Legislation that distributes existing tobacco monies, raised through both taxes and cigarette-borne compensation, into programs that can help adult smokers quit and prevent young people from consuming should be implemented immediately.
In 1997, Maine joined the growing list of states suing major cigarette manufacturers to offset Medicaid’s spending on smoking-related health problems. It was agreed with the tobacco manufacturers as a party in the framework billing agreement. Under the MSA, states receive perpetual annual payments made up of percentages of the sales of cigarettes sold in that state.
Maine used these funds early on in tobacco control programs. In a 2003 Senate committee hearing, Maine was commended for using a significant portion of its tobacco billing payments “to fund extensive tobacco prevention programs.”
Unfortunately, Maine has not consistently provided such funding. For example, in 2000 Maine allocated $ 18.8 million to tobacco control programs and received an estimated $ 74.9 million in cigarette taxes and $ 44.3 million in tobacco bill payments. Essentially, Maine spent 15.8% of its tobacco money on programs designed to help smokers quit and / or prevent it.
In 2019, Pine Tree State spent only $ 4.8 million in government funds on tobacco control programs. That was roughly 2.5% of the $ 112.8 million and $ 78 million the state received for cigarette taxes and tobacco bill payments (combined) over the same period.
In 2019, 17.6% of Maine adults were currently smokers and 13.9% were daily smokers, equivalent to 152,256 adults. When setting a per-pack habit in 2019, more than 1.1 billion cigarettes, or about three million per day, were smoked in the year.
In 2019, Maine introduced a state excise tax of $ 2 per pack. That’s $ 730 a year for a pack-a-day smoker. The $ 4.8 million tobacco control funding is just $ 24.90 per smoker per year and a shockingly low $ 19.29 per inhabitant under 18.
Even more troublesome is the proposal to ban flavored vaping products to effectively eliminate the ability to reduce tobacco damage for hundreds of thousands of adult smokers in Maine. There is evidence that these products have reduced the rate of smoking among young adults.
In the 10 years after the e-cigarette market emerged, the smoking rate among 18- to 24-year-olds fell by 24.5% from 18.4% of current young adult smokers in 2009 to just 13.9% the smoker between 18 and 18 years old is 24 years old.
The proposed ban would ultimately also benefit New Hampshire – the only northeastern state that still respects adult rights. In June 2020, a total taste ban went into effect in the southern neighbor of Granite State, Massachusetts. This ban prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco and vapor products, including menthol cigarettes.
New Hampshire should thank these Bay Staters for increasing sales tax revenues on cigarettes.
The Tax Foundation found that New Hampshire cigarette sales increased 55.8% between June 2019 and June 2020. In addition, the granite state generated $ 130.6 million in tobacco tax revenue in the first six months of fiscal 2021 – or 66% of the state’s revenue for the entire 2019 fiscal year. Should Maine Massachusetts follow suit, New Hampshire can see even more visitors – and more excise revenue – expect. In an odd twist, New Hampshire will actually collect tax and billing payments from smokers in other states while those states will lose funds that could help them quit smoking.
Rather than restricting adult and former smokers’ choices, Maine lawmakers should re-use existing tobacco funds for tobacco control programs. An appropriately funded tobacco control program that works with all stakeholders, including manufacturers, retailers, and local and state health and education departments. This would address youth usage and prevention.
Lindsey Stroud is a Policy Analyst at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, manager and inventor of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101 (thr101.org) and a board member of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA). She wrote this for InsideSources.com.