A Utah lawmaker wants to tax e-cigarettes, and use the money for rural healthcare.
Republican Representative Paul Ray says his main concern with electronic cigarettes is that they’re marketed to kids.
“We’ve had almost a 500% increase in youth access, youth using e-cigarettes over the past couple years,” Ray says. “So it’s at epidemic levels, and we feel it’s time to treat that as it is, and try to keep the next generation from being addicted to tobacco.”
Ray is sponsoring a bill that would impose an 86 percent tax on e-cigarette products and nicotine inhalers. Some of the money would go towards funding healthcare programs in rural Utah.
Ray, who is based in Clinton, says he’s concerned about a lack of access to medical professionals, school absenteeism, and high suicide rates in some rural areas. His bill would fund nurses in schools and telehealth programs. But he may have some competition for those funds. Lawmakers are also eyeing an e-cigarette tax as a way to help pay for a Medicaid expansion.
