$2 cigarette tax initiative advances toward ballot

If passed, the initiative would add to antismoking legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, which raised the age to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old and requires vaping products to be regulated like cigarettes. The tax measure would join what is expected to be a crowded ballot, with several major initiatives already qualifying or supporters announcing they have enough signatures to make the ballot. Last week, backers of a measure to extend higher personal income taxes on the wealthy under Prop. 30 said they have gathered 1 million signatures in order to qualify for the ballot. Supporters of legalizing marijuana and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gun control measure have also turned in signatures to the secretary of state’s office for validating. In all, 65 ballot initiatives have successfully applied to gather signatures from voters in hopes of making the November ballot, although many of those are considered long shots, such as one to require lawmakers to vote by secret ballot and another to eliminate charter schools. Steyer said that he doesn’t think a lengthy ballot or attention to the presidential race will affect the cigarette tax measure. The measure would increase cigarette taxes by $2 per pack as well as equivalent increases on other tobacco products and e-cigarettes that contain nicotine. The tax is expected to generate $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion each year by 2017-18, with the money going toward health care and prevention programs, research on tobacco-related diseases, law enforcement, University of California physician training and dental disease prevention. A trade group for the vapor industry said it too will fight against the tax, saying it’s misleading to lump their products in with cigarette “sin taxes.” “The language of the initiative is misleading to voters by falsely implying that the harmful health effects of tobacco are similar to those of vapor products,” Cynthia Cabrera, president of the Smoke-Free Alternative Trade Association, said in a statement. Science has concluded that vapor products are considered more than 95 percent less harmful than combusted cigarettes, including a recent study from the Royal College of Physicians, one of the world’s leading medical associations, endorsing vaping as a harm reduction option.