Coloradans Will Be Paying More for Tobacco After Prop. EE Passed

While I don't use tobacco products and never have I was wondering how Proposition EE was going to go after voters cast their ballots on Tuesday. Proposition EE was about raising new taxes on nicotine and tobacco products that are expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to The Denver Channel, the race was done before 9:00 p.m. with nearly 70% of all Colorado voters approving of the new tax increase. Beyond raising tons of money for the state, lawmakers are also hoping that the price increase will help to combat the high teen vaping rates and other tobacco and nicotine use currently in Colorado.

The Legislative Council Staff says the tax increase could bring in as much as 250 million dollars between this year and next. A pack of cigarettes will go from being taxed $ 0.84 to $2.67 by the year 2027, at that point all cigarette packs would cost over $7.

With Prop. EE passing this week that also means the minimum price for snuff products will be $1.48 per container and increase to $2.26 by 2027.

The added revenue to the state is allowed to be used on a new cash fund for rural schools, preschool funding, tobacco education programs, housing and health care.

Currently, approximately 14.5% of Colorado citizens use tobacco products.

The reason this story interests me so much is that both of my parents smoked cigarettes as I was growing up. This actually made me never want to smoke because I hated the smell of it and how much it costs to smoke. I truly hope the increase will help lower tobacco use in Colorado, but only time will tell.