Four U.S Senators, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) have introduced a piece of legislation that seeks to close loopholes in the tax code that have been exploited by the tobacco industry to avoid regulation and paying taxes for their products. S. 450, known as the Tobacco Tax Equity Act, was introduced yesterday and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. Sen. Durbin was joined by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in introducing the bill. While the full text of the bill has yet to be published, a press release issued by Sen. Durbin’s office said that the legislation would establish tax parity across all tobacco products, including new products determined to be a tobacco product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), like e-cigarettes. By establishing tax parity for tobacco products, it will eliminate loopholes that tobacco companies use to avoid the federal cigarette, small cigar, and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco taxes, generating federal revenue and reducing use of tobacco products. The tax parity would be created by establishing the tax rate on all tobacco products at the same per unit level as cigarettes, which is currently $1.01 per pack. While small cigars and RYO products ...
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