An increase on tobacco and vapor products would unfairly burden lower income Minnesotans. Excise taxes are inherently regressive and tend to burden lower income persons. For example, a Cato Journal article found from 2010 to 2011, “smokers earning less than $30,000 per year spent 14.2 percent of their household income on cigarettes, compared to 4.3 percent for smokers earning between $30,000 and $59,999 and 2 percent for smokers earning more than $60,000.”[v] In Minnesota, among current adult smokers, 27.3 percent reported annual incomes of less than $15,000 and 23.5 percent of current smokers reported earning between $15,000 and $24,999 per year.[vi] Despite four different tax increases, the percentage of smokers earning incomes of $24,999 or less has remained relatively stable. Indeed, among adult Minnesotan smokers with incomes of less than $15,000 per year, smoking actually increased by 2.2 percent from 1995, when 26.7 percent of current smokers earning less than $15,000. Indeed, higher incomes were associated with greater declines in smoking rates. For example, smoking rates among Minnesotan adults earning $50,000 or more decreased by 34.8 percent, from 16.1 percent of smokers in 1995 to 10.5 percent in 2019.

As lawmakers attempt to address youth use of age- restricted products, including electronic cigarettes and vapor products, some policymakers are seeking to ban sales of flavored tobacco and vapor products. Although addressing youth use is laudable, policymakers should refrain from policies that would restrict adult access to tobacco harm reduction products, as well as implementing policies that further subvert adult choices, such as is the case with the proposal to ban flavors in tobacco and vapor products.