Maine’s New Budget Punishes Smokers Trying to Quit

On June 23, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed the bill, known as LD 210, which was enacted by lawmakers on June 18 and will take effect 90 days after the close of the current legislative session. It follows the $11.3 billion baseline budget Mills signed in March to ensure state government operations continue uninterrupted. The bill includes controversial tax provisions that will be detrimental to Mainers. One provision of concern included in the budget increases excise taxes on all tobacco products. This includes smokeless tobacco products, which are used as for tobacco harm reduction and have helped millions of U.S. adults quit smoking. 

The tax rate for smokeless tobacco products will increase from $2.02 per ounce to $3.54, effective January 5, 2026.  Often, excise taxes such as the tobacco tax provisions in Gov. Janet Mills’ budget are intended to improve public health and raise revenues for the state’s coffers, yet they often fail to do either. Smokeless tobacco products, which were targeted in the budget, are less dangerous alternatives to traditional cigarettes and are used to help adult smokers quit the habit. 

Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths annually in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure.  This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day. A conventional cigarette contains more than 6,000 ingredients and, when burned, releases more than 7,000 chemicals, including arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, and tar.  Traditional cigarette use is associated with cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.  Smokeless tobacco products, like e-cigarettes or vapor products, release nicotine without these harmful effects and has been proven to aid adults in quitting smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1965, 42 percent of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes, but as of 2022, that percentage had fallen to 11.6 percent. From 2007 to 2015, more than three million U.S. adults used THR products to quit smoking cigarettes.   

Maine is not an outlier to the national statistics.  In 2023, 160,534 Maine adults (14 percent) were currently smoking. This represents a 6.7 percent decrease from 2022, resulting in 10,209 fewer adults smoking. The introduction of e-cigarettes has not led to increases in cigarette smoking, but rather, correlates with significant declines in smoking rates.

Excise taxes are regressive and disproportionately hurt low-income earners and don’t reduce smoking rates. With all of this money raised through excise taxes, it is important to know where that tax revenue is being spent. In 2022, for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent only $0.05 on tobacco control efforts.

This budget will harm consumers and small businesses, which are the backbone of the American economy. The vaping industry in Maine supports more than 300 jobs and generates $12.85 million, resulting in a total economic impact of approximately $40 million in Maine. Excise taxes included in Gov. Mills’ budget will harm the industry with higher tax implications.

For decades, lawmakers have taken the wrong approach and instituted taxes, restrictions, and all-out bans on products to incentivize individuals to quit smoking, and it hasn’t worked. Instead, lawmakers should adopt a tobacco harm reduction approach and incentivize the use of less dangerous products that help adults in smoking cessation.