Utah Bill Would Raise Cigarette Taxes

(Salt Lake City, UT) — A bill that recently passed the Utah House would raise taxes on cigarettes and other nicotine products, increasing the cost of a pack of cigarettes by about one-dollar-seventy-five. House Bill 337 also changes how products like nicotine pouches and moist snuff are taxed, treating them more like e-cigarettes. Supporters say the added revenue would fund prevention and cessation programs and help curb youth nicotine use, while opponents argue the measure unfairly targets smokers and could encourage a black market. The bill passed the House forty-seven to twenty and now heads to the Senate, with a proposed start date of July 1st.