W. Va. House Rejects Tobacco Tobacco Tax Increase

In a stunning turn of events, the West Virginia House of Delegates voted 44-55 against a bill that would have raised the tax on all tobacco products in the state. It failed largely because anti-tax increase Republicans joined anti-tobacco Democrats in raising two very different objections.

The move was particularly surprising since the measure had quickly and successfully moved through a first and second reading with seemingly little opposition.

If passed, the bill would have increased the tax on other tobacco products from 7 percent to 12 percent and raised the tax on cigarettes by 45 cents per pack.

West Virginia faces a $270 million budget deficit, the increase in tobacco taxes were meant to help close said gap.

The bill barely made it through the Senate last week, passing 17-16, but was expected to face stiffer opposition in the House of Delegates. As of yesterday, at least one tobacco lobbyist told halfwheel they expected the bill to pass because the legislators in West Virginia wanted to wrap up this special session and return home.

But then something changed.

Earlier today, a three-hour debate began over the measure and it quickly seemed apparently things wouldn’t be so smooth. However, it wasn’t the anti-tax Republicans who were causing the problem, rather, the bill faced a two-flank opposition with anti-tobacco Democrats ultimately being the death blow.

Some Democrats were opposed to the measure because they wanted to see a tax increase of as much as $1 per pack on cigarettes. Like other state legislatures, they believed the smaller increase now would ultimately make it significantly more challenging to get a higher increase at a later date as anti-tax Republicans would be less willing to compromise.

Del. Anderson fears Rs who want no tax increase at all and Ds who want a bigger tax increase will come together and kill tobacco tax bill.

— Rusty Marks (@rusty_marks) May 24, 2016

Many House Democrats are against tobacco tax increase because they don't think it's high enough.

— Rusty Marks (@rusty_marks) May 24, 2016

Ultimately, those anti-tobacco votes joined anti-tax votes and others who believed the bill didn’t effectively address problems with the state’s budget and killing the bill.